The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Russell Wilson in free agency and then proceeded to swing a trade with the Chicago Bears to acquire Justin Fields, completely changing their quarterback room.
Steelers general manager Omar Khan spoke about his team being able to land a pair of impactful signal-callers this offseason and seems thrilled about the nifty maneuvering.
“I’m excited about both of those players,” Khan said, via Dale Lolley of the Steelers’ official team website. “They’re both really good quarterbacks. If you would have told me a month ago in Indy that we’d be here and Russell Wilson and Justin Fields would be our quarterbacks, I’d say, I’d be a little bit surprised.”
The general expectation is that Wilson will be the starting quarterback heading into 2024 but that Fields will have a chance to play if Wilson falters.
Regardless, Wilson represents a major upgrade over Kenny Pickett, who Pittsburgh dealt to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this month.
Khan says that as soon as the Denver Broncos released Wilson, the Steelers knew they had to add him.
“Once the announcement was made that he was going to be released and Russell and his agent had permission to talk to other clubs, we had a conversation and Russ came in and met with us,” Khan said. “We had a great day, felt good about it. He’ll probably tell you the same thing, it was a match for both of us. We made it work. When both sides meet, money aside, it’s got to be a fit. It made sense for both of us.”
Wilson signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with Pittsburgh, as the Broncos still owe him $39 million for 2024. The Steelers then traded a sixth-round draft pick for Fields, so the cost of adding both quarterbacks was very minimal for the club.
Pittsburgh went 10-7 and made the playoffs this past year without having any real stability under center, so now that the Steelers have a much better situation at quarterback, they should be a much more significant threat in the AFC going into next season.
We’ll see if Pittsburgh picks up some more weapons in the NFL Draft next month.
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