PITTSBURGH — As Justin Fields was developing as a young quarterback, he spent time studying similarly mobile athletes at his position like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson looking for little nuggets to improve his game.
“I started studying (Jackson) and just his footwork for read-option, how he can accelerate and stuff like that,” Fields said Thursday. “That was one of the things I did in my early years. Our similarities are of course just how we utilize our legs in certain situations.”
This week as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to renew one of the NFL’s great rivalries, Fields isn’t just watching the Baltimore Ravens’ MVP candidate on film. He’s responsible for playing him as the scout team quarterback at practice, giving the defense a better look at what they’ll see on Sunday.
Now look, no matter how mobile the scout team quarterback is, it’s one thing to try to replicate Jackson in practice, and a completely different challenge to try to slow him down on Sundays. The Steelers’ defense will still have its hands full against Jackson, who leads the NFL’s No. 1 scoring and red zone offense. But there are certainly advantages to having someone like Fields on the roster when you’re preparing for a unique talent like Jackson.
“When you’re when you’re dealing with a mobile quarterback and a guy that can run and throw, if you have somebody in the program (it helps),” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “When you don’t have anybody in your program like that, when you want to run the ball, a lot of times you put a receiver in there to play quarterback, and then everybody in the building knows, ‘Hey, they’re gonna run the ball this time.’
“(With Fields), you can keep the quarterback in. You can run all that offense. You can do all the different things that they do without giving it away.”
For Fields, the new role is the latest shakeup in a season twists and turns. He was initially slated to serve as the backup QB until Wilson went down with a recurrence of a training camp calf injury just days before the season opener. In six starts, Fields led the Steelers to a 4-2 record and, in a lot of ways, was playing the best football of his career, accounting for 10 touchdowns with his arm and legs against just one interception. He completed a career-high 66.3 percent of his passes and posted career lows in interceptions (0.17) and sacks (2.67) per game.
Many wondered if Fields’ strong start to the season and his upside as a 25-year-old passer would convince the Steelers to stick with him throughout this season — or even into the future, as Fields is in the final year of his rookie contract. However, when coach Mike Tomlin chose to pivot to Wilson, Fields made a point to embrace his new role with a team-first attitude.
While Fields might not have the same opportunity to add to his resume and, possibly, convince another NFL franchise that he can be its starter when he becomes a free agent in March, he’s trying to take advantage of the opportunities to play against a talented defense every day in practice.
“I’m in a different role now,” Fields said. “Of course, I’d love to be out there on the field, but I think me, I’m just looking at the situation like I can get better, working on my craft, working on little details so that when I do get back on the field, I’m better than I was.”
Now that Wilson appears to have solidified his spot as the starter, the question becomes: When will Fields get that opportunity?
From the moment Tomlin named Wilson the starter ahead of the season, the coach promised to showcase Fields’ mobility with a package of plays. While we’ve heard a lot about that package, the Steelers have yet to show it on game days.
“We’ve got a package every week, and then sometimes it goes back to the flow of the game,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “Obviously, being smart with Justin. He had a little bit of a hamstring (injury before Wilson’s first start), so that went in it a little bit sometimes in decision-making.
“It’ll be ready to go when we need it. Maybe it’s Sunday. Maybe it’s next Sunday. But very confident when we break it out, it’ll make a difference.”
Deciding how or when to utilize this package is a complex conversation with several variables. First and foremost, playing two quarterbacks would present a unique dynamic in the NFL. Every time the Steelers put Fields out there, it also means taking Wilson off the field or the ball out of his hands. That could theoretically disrupt QB1’s rhythm and timing. There’s a reason very few teams have flirted with this idea.
In theory, the two times it would make the most sense to use the Fields package would be in short yardage or red zone, where Fields shined earlier in the season. Inside the red zone, windows get tighter and the game moves faster. However, Fields’ completion percentage (68.4 percent) and passer rating (121.1) were actually higher than in other parts of the field. Overall in the six games with Fields starting, the Steelers converted 50 percent of their red zone trips into touchdowns.
Over the three games with Wilson? The Steelers are converting an identical 50 percent of red zone trips into touchdowns. The numbers would be better if not for George Pickens’ double left toe tap and his touchdown that was negated due to an offensive line penalty against the Giants.
If the Steelers are already clicking at the same rate as when Fields was in at QB, it’s worth asking whether a change at QB for a few plays would provide a spark or disrupt the rhythm.
The other variable in all of this is trade compensation. The Steelers acquired Fields from the Bears for a conditional sixth-round pick that would become a fourth-round pick if Fields plays 51 percent of the offensive snaps or more.
Fields has played 374 offensive snaps. During an average season, a team typically runs between 1,000 and 1,200 plays, and the Steelers are on pace for about 1,088 plays. Extrapolating that out across an entire season, Fields could play about 550 total snaps without hitting the magic number. That gives him about 180 more plays.
The Steelers might not be thinking in these terms, but it would make sense to save at least one game’s worth of snaps (about 65), or more, in case Fields has to replace Wilson due to injury. If you care to take this hypothetical that far, that would leave about 100 to 115 snaps or around 15 snaps per game. So even though Fields might have already started more than anticipated, there is still some wiggle room before that sixth-round pick becomes a fourth.
Over the final stretch of the season, time will tell whether the Steelers actually plan to utilize both quarterbacks, or if they’re using gamesmanship to make opponents spend time preparing for a package they might never see.
“Whatever I can do to help the team,” Fields said. “I’m not really a shot caller — that’s above my pay grade. But whenever they want me in the game, that’s when I’ll go in the game and do whatever I can to help our team win and execute.”
(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
