The Pittsburgh Steelers value longevity and loyalty as a franchise. You only have to look at their list of head coaches to see this is true: only three in more than 50 years. Current Head Coach Mike Tomlin has been at the helm since 2007, when he took over for Bill Cowher. Currently, in his 18th season, Tomlin has been dealing with something new for the past few years: finding the next franchise quarterback.
When Tomlin took over in the Steel City, Ben Roethlisberger was just entering his fourth season and had already won one Super Bowl. The Steelers and Tomlin were lucky to have someone as reliable as Roethlisberger. While he had his share of injuries, it is hard to complain about a quarterback who takes your team to three Super Bowls, wins two of them, and has six Pro Bowl nods.
After 18 seasons in the league, Roethlisberger finally retired after the 2021 season, and the Steelers were left searching for the next great signal-caller. They signed Mitch Trubisky and drafted Kenny Pickett with the plan of making the latter the team's future. However, Pickett struggled to find his footing in the NFL, so they signed Russell Wilson. Pickett was unhappy about being surpassed by the former Super Bowl winner and asked to be traded. That led to them making another trade, this time for Justin Fields.
According to Tomlin, Wilson was meant to be the starting quarterback, but thanks to a calf injury, he has been sidelined through the first two games. Fields has led the team to the top of the AFC North at 2-0. As of his most recent press conference, Tomlin won't commit to either quarterback, saying the decision won't be made until Wilson is fully healthy.
That led Kay Adams to ask former Steelers quarterback Michael Vick exactly what Tomlin values in a quarterback and how Roethlisberger fits that mold.
"What he values most is confidence in a quarterback," said Vick. "I think Mike Tomlin and Ben's [Roethlisberger] relationship, just watching it from afar, it was more so about trusting Ben, that Ben was more than capable of doing everything that the team needed him to do on offense to be successful. And he gave him free rein, and that's because Ben was a great quarterback; Ben was exceptional, to me, first ballot Hall of Famer all day. I witnessed it, I heard it, I sat in the meetings and then I watched him go out and do it."
Vick was one of the world's most dynamic young quarterbacks while at Virginia Tech. The Atlanta Falcons selected him as the first pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, in 2007, the league suspended Vick after he was sentenced to prison time and federal charges related to dog fighting. When he was released, he went to the Philadelphia Eagles and revived his career.
He landed in Pittsburgh in 2015, and when Roethlisberger sustained a knee injury, Vick took over under center. Unfortunately, he suffered another injury after five games and had to be replaced by Landry Jones. Ultimately, Vick retired after that season ended.
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Vick paved the way for a lot of today's dual-threat quarterbacks. While previous quarterbacks had shown mobility before, none were at the level that Vick was. He ran a 4.33 at his Pro Day and had reportedly been clocked as low as 4.25, making him the fastest quarterback in history. All of this led to Atlanta making him the highest-paid quarterback of his era.
In many ways, Fields and Vick are very similar. Both present significant obstacles to opposing defenses. Fields even broke Vick's single-season rushing record with 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns. Vick told Adams that he thinks Tomlin is confident in Fields and that confidence is growing. According to Vick, Fields presents a significant "problem for any defense."
