Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is the betting favorite to be the first veteran signal-caller benched this season at +300 odds, according to SportsBetting.ag, via Kyle Odegard of Top Offshore Sportsbooks. Jacoby Brissett of the New England Patriots (+350) and Gardner Minshew of the Las Vegas Raiders (+400) are right behind Wilson.
Wilson’s status for the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons is up in the air, as he was limited in practice on Thursday after reporting calf tightness, head coach Mike Tomlin said after practice. It’s the same injury in the same leg that kept Wilson out of the first two weeks of training camp.
Former NFL quarterback and current analyst for The Athletic, Chase Daniels, is concerned about Wilson’s lingering calf injury. He thinks it could be a long-term issue.
“I’m worried about the Steelers. A calf issue is one of the worst injuries for a quarterback because you can’t drop back, you can’t move out of the pocket, & you can’t be yourself. Russell Wilson won’t be the same Russell Wilson. That’s his game,” Daniels wrote on X.
If Wilson can’t go on Sunday, Justin Fields will get the nod. Former Denver Broncos offensive lineman Mark Schlereth thinks Fields is a better fit for the offense. He even predicted that Wilson will start five games before he’s benched.
“I’m gonna say five.” Schlereth said on his podcast Stinkin Truth. “I just think that’s the way the Pittsburgh Steelers are gonna have to be built, what they’re gonna have to build themselves on is the running game and using the quarterback element in the run game.”
While Wilson is the starter, former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger thinks the fan base could switch to Fields quickly if things don’t pan out right away.
“The fan base right now is, I don’t know if it’s split, but there’s definitely some Fields guys,” Roethlisberger said. “He’s strong. He’s big. He’s fast. He can run. He can make throws on the run. Russ can definitely do some of that moving and create with his legs. No doubt about it. But he’s going to sit in the pocket because that’s just what he does a little more. He’s a big play-action pass guy. … So you have some fans that want Justin. They want that elusive ‘Let’s run it.’ And then you’ve got the guy who’s probably going to start and throw. My concern is, if Russ struggles, that Justin fan base is going to start to kind of grow.”
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported recently that some within the Steelers organization were pushing for Fields to be the starter over Wilson.
“This isn’t anyone’s first rodeo in Pittsburgh, and Fields took some fundamental changes that the offensive coaches gave him (one being a return to the type of footwork he’d used at Ohio State), and really worked on them over the past few weeks of camp,” Breer wrote. “It was enough to have some folks internally push for Fields to start. There was, too, plenty of merit to the idea. But the way it is now, again, to give yourself two shots, also makes plenty of sense.”
Mike Tomlin benched his starting quarterback in 2022 and 2023. Could it be a third straight year?
