While Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has made it clear that Russell Wilson is the favorite to start, he has yet to close the door on the possibility that Justin Fields can win the starting quarterback job.
As Wilson missed time in training camp due to a calf injury, the hype was building for Fields to possibly take the starting job as he performed well with the first-team reps, with the media in particular driving that hype.
But Mark Madden of TribLive.com isn't buying into the idea that there is a real shot Fields can win the job — like, at all.
Not only did Madden call the idea of a true competition for the job "fictionalized" and "laughable," he also doesn't think Fields is on Wilson's level, and he even called Fields "a bum."
"Wilson isn’t in his prime. But he’s no bum," Madden wrote. "So far, Fields is a bum. Fields won’t come to Pittsburgh from Chicago and turn it around. (Mitch Trubisky sure didn’t.) Fields was a first-round flop with the Bears. A turnover machine. Thirty interceptions and 38 fumbles in 40 games.
"His skill set lends itself to the occasional impressive moment, not least in practice. But Fields doesn’t know how to play quarterback at the NFL level. He’s 25. What’s his learning curve at this point? Kenny Pickett doesn’t know how to play quarterback at the NFL level, either. The Steelers replaced one first-round bust with another. If Fields has to play, all will be revealed. Just like with Pickett.
"That’s what makes the fictionalized quarterback competition at Steelers camp so laughable: The decision, which has long since been made, is obvious. Fields is potential that hasn’t much been realized and likely won’t be. Wilson is polished, professional and knowledgeable. Wilson won’t lose games. In Chicago, Fields often did. Wilson might not be great. But he won’t stink."
Yikes.
While we wouldn't sit here and call Fields a bum, we have been consistent in saying that the so-called quarterback controversy between he and Wilson in Pittsburgh is more a media creation than anything else.
After all, Wilson was better during the offseason program, and the only reason Fields has seen daylight in his quest to become the starter in training camp is because Wilson hasn't been able to practice in full for most of it.
We'll have a better idea of where things stand once we can actually compare the two signal-callers in practice and in the preseason, but it's going to take quite a bit for Fields to topple Wilson from the "pole position" he's held all offseason long.
