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The Pittsburgh Steelers found their way to the playoffs in 2024, but they flamed out down the stretch of the regular season, and ended up getting bounced by the Baltimore Ravens in their wild card matchup. Now, the Steelers have some big questions to answer this offseason, chief among them being what the future holds for their quarterback tandem of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Both Wilson and Fields are set for free agency this offseason, with Pittsburgh making it clear they want to keep at least one of them in town. They could opt to franchise tag one of them, but given the massive price that is associated with such a move, that seems unlikely to happen. A more likely option, though, could be to use the transition tag, which would allow Pittsburgh to match another team’s offer for whoever they utilize the tag on.
“Neither Russell Wilson nor Justin Fields is worth the steep price that comes with using a franchise tag on a quarterback. The Steelers could, though, explore using a transition tag on Fields or Wilson that would give them the ability to match another team’s offer,” Brooke Pryor of ESPN reported.
Letting both Wilson and Fields hit the open market could be a risky proposition for the Steelers, so utilizing the transition tag could be a unique way for the team to protect themselves. The issue is that the transition tag still is projected to come in at over $35 million, which is a very big price for either of these guys.
While Pittsburgh could utilize the tag to pave the way for extension talks, or simply match whatever offer another team were to make, there’s a lot of risk associated with either letting these guys hit the market, or tagging one of them before free agency starts. The Steelers need to figure out what their quarterback position is going to look like for the future, and the decision they make with Wilson and Fields could play a big part in shaping their future.
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