The owner and president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney II, said on Monday that he expected Russell Wilson or Justin Fields to return to the quarter next season. But not both.
Rooney addressed the situation in the quarter of Pittsburgh and reiterated his support for head coach Mike Tomlin at his end-of-season press conference. He called to bring back one from Wilson or Fields a “priority”.
“I think they are both capable, and my preference would be to sign one of them, so it will be the priority”, ” Rooney told journalists. “And I think that will give us the best opportunity to move forward.”
Wilson and Fields should both become free agents without restriction. Wilson played last season on a one -year contract and $ 1.2 million While being paid by broncos on Its previous $ 242 million agreement. Fields played in the last year of his recruit contract of $ 18.9 million over four years which he signed with the Bears before joining the Steelers via the business of the last season.
Is Wilson or Fields the Pittsburgh’s response?
Fields started the first six games of the season after Wilson suffered a calf injury in the training camp and led the Steelers at a start of 4-2. Wilson took over in week 7 and finished the season as a Pittsburgh starter. The Steelers went 6-5 in the regular season games that Wilson started, which included four consecutive defeats to finish the season. The Steelers then lost in the round in the Joker against the Ravens.
The two were entries in their previous judgments before joining the Steelers, and Rooney does not plan to have them both on the list next season.
“I think they both consider themselves beginners, and I don’t know they want to share the work,” Rooney said. “So I would most likely say that we do not end up bringing them both.”
The return of one or the other as a quarterrier starting from Pittsburgh would not be able to satisfy a base of fans of the Steelers frustrated by the collapse of the end of the season and is hungry of the first victory of the eliminations of the Franchise since 2017. Wilson is 36 years old and has exceeded its peak and has not shown that it has the advantage to raise this list of steelers in the running. And he beat fields for the starting work.
Do Steelers have other options?
But the Steelers may not have much choice. They will probably not find a quarter of a franchise with choice n ° 21 in the draft, and they certainly do not find them in a free agency. Pittsburgh tried and did not find his quarterrier in a similar recovery position when he selected Kenny Pickett with the choice n ° 20 in the recovery of 2022. Pickett is now a backup for the Eagles after two failed seasons As a starter of Pittsburgh.
Rooney described Pickett’s failure to keep the post at Pittsburgh “disappointing”.
“It is disappointing that Kenny did not work to be our long-term quarter, and I am not sure that there is much to learn from that”, “ Rooney said. “We just have to look at the next opportunity.”
As for Tomlin, Rooney has left little doubt about his feelings for the head coach, who is under pressure from the fans base in the middle of the drought of eight seasons without victory in the playoffs.
“We always feel that he is a good leader”, ” Rooney said from Tomlin. “When you have a good coach, you try to keep it in place. When I talk to players, they always want to play for Mike. »»