Steelers Now
Pro Football Focus recently tabbed the New York Jets as the best landing spot for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields in free agency. Well, the other New York franchise could also be in contention for the former Ohio State Buckeye.
The Giants passed on Fields at 11th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, but he could ultimately land in North Jersey if the Giants miss out on projected first-round draft picks Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward and top free agent QB Sam Darnold.
The Giants have the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns are also in need of a quarterback (the Deshaun Watson experiment has been a disaster). Darnold is likely to come at a hefty price, so Fields would be a significant cheaper bridge option.
Darnold also left a lot to be desired in the Vikings’ last two games of the season. It might be wise for the Giants to not back up the brinks truck for him.
“I think Justin would be a better option than most for New York because he’s athletic,” an AFC pro personnel scout told Ryan Dunleavy of The New York Post. “They are going to struggle to protect the quarterback unless they do an overhaul of the offensive line.
“He has the ability to improvise and make some off-schedule plays and maybe make it work. His skill set may be close to what (Brian) Daboll wants to do offensively.”
One league source projected a one-year flier for Fields matching Darnold’s $10 million rate last offseason or an inflation-adjusted version of Mariota’s two-year, $17.6 million contract with the Raiders in 2020.
“Fields eliminated a lot of the negatives this year,” the source told The Post. “He put the ball in harm’s way less. He didn’t take quite as many ugly sacks. There were signs of improvement. He worked in on packages in the playoff game. From a cerebral standpoint, it was just a cleaner environment.
“I would lean toward the Darnold example for him. Why lock yourself into multiple years? Maybe you do get to play 10 games, and then you are locked in on that second year and the team has all that leverage.”
In 2024, Fields played some of the best ball of his career in the six games he filled in for Russell Wilson. He set highs in completion percentage (65.8%), interception rate (0.6%), success rate (42.9%), quarterback rating (93.3) and adjusted net yards per attempt (5.86).
Wilson said on Wednesday that he and the Steelers have had preliminary talks about a contract extension. It’s unknown if the Steelers have had the same conversations with Fields, but they may have competition to bring him back for 2025.
