While there is still plenty of time to determine who earns starting roles for the Pittsburgh Steelers, that window is dwindling.
Nothing signals that more than the arrival of mandatory minicamp, where everyone on the 90-man roster will be aiming to keep, earn, or contend for a roster spot.
That includes QB Justin Fields and two of his pass catchers:
QB Justin Fields
Look, by no means is Justin Fields in line to start at QB. In fact, the idea of a true QB battle is widely misconstrued and virtually a national-only narrative. That's not to say things can't change when training camp rolls around, but for now, Fields has to simply show he can keep his head above water as he tries to shorten the distance between him and Russell Wilson.
Fields is clearly the better athlete, and may even have the better arm talent at this point, but when the reps are live that's where Wilson's pocket presence and anticipation may shine compared to Fields.
There is also the social and intangible component to analyze, as Wilson has ingratiated himself as the team leader, which is obvious given his Super Bowl pedigree and extroverted nature.
How Fields combats that from Wilson will be telling for his future, and the glimpse starts on Tuesday.
WR Calvin Austin III
Approaching year three, Austin needs to show why Pittsburgh drafted him in round four of the 2022 NFL Draft and why he should be a feature in Arthur Smith's new offense.
With Quez Watkins coming in via free agency, that makes two players of similar playstyle in Pittsburgh's WR corps, though Watkins comes in a bigger package.
On top of that, the team also signed Cordarrelle Patterson who will likely take away the return reps that Austin had in 2023.
So while he has shown flashes of explosiveness, the consistency needed to be on the field regularly has escaped his game to this point of his career.
That will need to change between the start of minicamp and September.
TE Darnell Washington
Washington is not on a hot seat, and in fact, he will probably be featured even more than his rookie campaign given the high rate of tight-end usage and two tight-end sets employed by Arthur Smith.
But for Washington to really take the next step and live up to his potential, he needs to be used more in the passing game and show his development as a route runner. The quicker he does that, the better off Pittsburgh will be in 2024.
