No, Justin Fields’ trade terms will not play a role in who the Steelers start at QB

When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Justin Fields, they only gave up a conditional sixth-round draft pick. The terms stipulated that if Fields played 50 percent of the Steelers’ offensive snaps, the Steelers would owe the Chicago Bears a 2025 draft pick not in the sixth round but in the fourth.

And I can assure you, by all reasonable logic, that doesn’t play a role in the Steelers’ current quarterback dynamic. With reports that they may sign Russell Wilson this week, Mike Tomlin isn’t worried about mid-round draft swaps. And there’s a simple reason for that: If Justin Fields was indeed the franchise’s answer, it would be worth a lot more to find out than being picked in the fourth round.

I’ve seen numerous people mention trade dynamics as an aspect of the Steelers’ thought process. That’s just not it. With that in mind, I’m pleased to say that when the topic came up, very little was heard from our own readership. So this particular article is not a sermon for our regular readers, but this narrative has already been shared. Most will feel like I’m preaching to the choir, and on the whole I’m sure I am, or at least I hope so. But this is for those who might think differently and might stumble over it.

The decision is far too big to take such a factor into account when deciding who will start at quarterback. That’s not to say teams never make these considerations, as even the Steelers do. For example, remember when the Steelers released WR Donte Moncrief? Even though Moncrief turned out to be a bad signing, they released him because otherwise it would have cost them a conditional draft pick. But starting Russell Wilson instead of Justin Fields has nothing to do with keeping a fourth-round pick instead of a sixth-round pick.

The Steelers are in quarterback purgatory and have been since Ben Roethlisberger retired. I’m sure many would argue that they’ve been there before, at least since 2019. While I’m sure the Steelers knew that signing Russell Wilson wasn’t a home run and certainly not a long-term solution, they also knew that Justin Fields was a gamble.

Fields is still young and has pedigree, and his athleticism is overwhelmingly evident. But if the Steelers thought now that he clearly has what it takes to be a franchise quarterback, even if not now but in the near future, there’s no chance they would sit him. And they certainly wouldn’t, since there’s a two-round difference in a Day 3 draft pick.

I cannot provide any solid evidence to support my point. Even the team’s statement that trade terms played no role in getting Russell Wilson into the starting lineup over Justin Fields wouldn’t be evidence because they were just words. But I can claim that it is the only conclusion that stands up to all logic.

And that includes the logic specific to the Steelers. This is a team that traded a fifth-round pick for Nick Vannett. If you make a move like this, don’t worry too much about a fourth-round pick. This is even less true these days when there are so many ways to move around the draft board. If the Steelers really wanted a fourth-round pick and let Fields continue playing, they could find a way. This is all about evaluating football and nothing else.