For the majority of Pittsburgh Steelers fans, the 2024 season is being met with some combination of optimism and anxiety.
No position adds to those feelings more than the QB position.
Armed with a Super Bowl champion and one of the league's more dynamic threats between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields respectively, the signal caller will be the talk of training camp.
But according to Dakota Randall of Pro Football Network, it will all be for not:
Pittsburgh in 'No Mans Land'
Pittsburgh Steelers fans will talk themselves into believing Justin Fields can be an effective NFL starting quarterback. The rest of the league would disagree with them. They also might believe Russell Wilson has something left in the tank. Again, the league would disagree. Pittsburgh is in no man’s land at quarterback, hitching its wagons to an aging veteran and a talented but deeply flawed fourth-year pro. There’s a chance this works out, but it’s slim. -Dakota Randall, PFN
There's two ways of looking at this in my opinion. Many believed that if the Steelers ran it back with either Kenny Pickett or Mason Rudolph, the team would continue the vicious cycle of 9-8 or 10-7, barley missing the playoffs or narrowly getting in only to be sent home on wildcard weekend.
So many fans and media members viewed the change as good. But what has to be remembered is that both Wilson and Fields had their prior teams move off of them.
It would be one thing if they were free agents.
Instead, Wilson made the Broncos incur the largest dead money cap charge in NFL history, just to get him off the team.
Now that wasn't all on him, as Wilson bounced back from an underwhelming 2022 season in 2023, but didn't see eye to eye with Broncos HC Sean Payton who wanted him off the team.
As for Fields, he never had the appropriate infrastructure around him, but he was unable to show significant development in his ability to play from the pocket, allowing Chicago to trade him as they were armed with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
So while change can be good, it's going to take some time before we know if the change in Pittsburgh will result in what fans actually want...
