Pittsburgh Steelers reporter Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette would not envision the membership signing quarterback Justin Fields to a short-term contract extension this summer time.
“I do not suppose so,” Fittipaldo stated concerning the state of affairs throughout a Thursday look on Pittsburgh sports activities radio station 93.7 The Fan, as shared by Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. “When it comes to quarterbacks, I simply suppose they need to see the way it performs out. I feel that is been what the plan was since March.”
The Steelers acquired Fields from the Chicago Bears for a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft choose in March shortly after the membership signed veteran Russell Wilson to a team-friendly contract. Pittsburgh finally declined Fields’ fifth-year choice, and Wilson reportedly emerged because the “undisputed chief” of the Steelers offense forward of the membership’s summer time break.
“You’ll need to discover out if he might play, and there isn’t any ensures,” Fittipaldo stated about Fields. “If Russell Wilson performs effectively and if Russell Wilson stays wholesome, then you definitely may not know. You may be locked into $13M for 2025, and Russell Wilson is gonna need his cash, too.”
Particularly, Fittipaldo was referencing how the Steelers seemingly do not need to signal Fields to the kind of extension the Inexperienced Bay Packers gave Jordan Love final offseason. Whereas the Packers handed Love the figurative keys to the offense forward of the 2023 marketing campaign, Wilson is on observe to start out Pittsburgh’s regular-season opener on the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8.
“There is not any simple reply to this query,” Fittipaldo added in the course of the section. “I feel ultimately, they’re gonna see what goes down in 2024 after which they’re going to work feverishly from the top of the season till the center of March to strive to determine who they’re gonna pay and the way a lot they’re gonna pay them.”
Each Wilson and Fields can hit the open market in March 2025, and NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports activities Illustrated suggested earlier this week that neither signal-caller “lit the world on fireplace” throughout springtime exercises.
It stays to be seen if Fields will obtain reliable alternatives to leapfrog Wilson on the depth chart from coaching camp by way of not less than one preseason recreation.