REPORT: STEELERS WON'T BE PICKING UP JUSTIN FIELDS' 5TH-YEAR OPTION

The Pittsburgh Steelers are not expected to pick up Justin Fields' $25 million fifth-year option, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Fields will be a free agent after the 2024 NFL season.

The 25-year-old was only recently traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick by the Chicago Bears. Fields was selected 11th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, but struggled for consistency in a dysfunctional organization that often failed to surround him with offensive talent.

After the Bears secured the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, and the right to select potentially generational star Caleb Williams, Fields' days in Chicago were numbered.

Fields joined a quarterback room also consisting of former Seattle Seahawks star Russell Wilson, who signed a one-year-deal earlier in the offseason for the league minimum. Wilson is expected to start, but Fields will be given the opportunity to compete for the role. The Steelers don't currently have a quarterback contracted past the 2024 season.

Will Fields Ever Start Again?

Most of the league showed little interest in trading for Fields

Despite many in the media expecting teams like the Atlanta Falcons or the Minnesota Vikings to make a move for Fields, the expected bidding war never transpired. Rather than a second-round pick, all the Bears received for a former first rounder was a late day 3 pick.

According to ESPN's Brooke Pryor, another team with an established starter offered more compensation, but chose to do right by Fields and deal him where he wanted to go.

Based on the league's lack of interest, it seems like Field's days as a starter are over. But is that reasonable based on how he played?

Any team that would've traded for Fields with the intention of making him a starter would've had to extend him, likely to a deal at least north of $30 million dollars, if not more. While Fields has not shown as nearly as much as someone like Kirk Cousins, the rate for a long-term, starting quarterback is somewhere around the four-year, $180 million contract he recently signed with the Atlanta Falcons.

Over his three years of starting, Fields has shown flashes of brilliance, but his weaknesses limit what sort of offenses he can run. In 38 starts, Fields was sacked 133 times, or 3.5 times a game. He struggles to feel pressure and get the ball out in time. He also has accuracy issues, and his ability to read defenses is inconsistent.

Fields is a fantastic athlete, and his 1,143 rushing yards in the 2022 season was the second most by a quarterback ever, but he can only succeed in an offense catered to his strengths. He excels at scrambling and throwing the ball deep. However, those traits on their own don't translate to a winning offense.

The Bears had consistently poor offenses with Fields at the helm, even if he was surrounded by subpar talent at times. The Bears did not put him in a good position to succeed, but elite quarterbacks have shown the ability to elevate poor talent. Fields has simply not shown enough talent to be a starter in the NFL.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.

2024-04-25T07:08:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd