Mike Greenberg believes the Pittsburgh Steelers would not have signed Russell Wilson if they knew the price for Justin Fields.
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed quarterback Russell Wilson before free agency even started after the Denver Broncos granted him early release. At that point, the team had Kenny Pickett on the team, but this closed the door for Mason Rudolph to return to the squad. However, once the team moved Picket to the Philadelphia Eagles, they moved to trade for Justin Fields. The price ended up coming in at just a conditional sixth-round pick.
Mike Greenberg of ESPN believes that if the Steelers had known that Fields would only cost that much from the jump, the signing of Wilson would have never happened.
“I believe that if you gave the Steelers truth serum, they’ll never admit this — nor should they — but if they had known at the time that they were going to be able to get Justin Fields for the price that they got him for, I don’t think they would have signed Russell in the first place,” Greenberg said. “The bottom line of it is, at the time they signed Russell Wilson, which was right off the bat…I think that was at a moment in time when the asking price on Justin Fields was [too high], and the Steelers decided, ‘We’re not meeting that price.’ But had they known it was eventually going to [drop significantly], they would have [traded for] him and given him every chance to be their starter.”
That’s a bold statement from Greenberg, not one that the Steelers or I would particularly agree with. While this team likes Fields, and rightfully so at that, Wilson was someone they wanted due to his pedigree and proven floor. On the other hand, Fields is the type of upside swing teams should take when they have veterans like Wilson on one-year deals.
They landed Fields at the price they did because that is how the NFL views Fields. So, this is nothing earth-shattering, but it feels like Greenberg is reaching more to take on a glorious stance than what happened here. If this were the case, it feels like the ‘pole position’ comments likely would have not been said by Mike Tomlin and everyone else around the Steelers organization.
