The Steelers completed the total makeover of their quarterback room by sending a conditional 2025 draft pick to the Chicago Bears for former first-round pick Justin Fields.
Fields, who turned 25 earlier this month, was the 11th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Ohio State.
He'll join recently-signed Russell Wilson in the Steelers' quarterback room, replacing the trio of Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph, all of whom are no longer with the team. Pickett was traded to Philadelphia earlier in the day Saturday, while Trubisky was released and Rudolph reached free agency.
In Fields, the Steelers get perhaps the best running quarterback in the NFL. In 40 career games, 38 of them starts, Fields has rushed for 2,220 yards and 14 touchdowns, including 1,143 scores and eight touchdowns in 2022.
But with Chicago holding the first-overall pick in this year's draft, the Bears decided to reset things at quarterback, making Fields available.
The Steelers will count on Fields (6-3, 228 pounds) as an additional option to Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowl player signed last week during the opening period of free agency.
In three seasons, Fields has completed just over 60 percent of his passes for 6,674 yards with 40 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. He's been sacked 135 times and fumbled 38 times. He has a career passer rating of 82.3
Fields is coming off a season in which he completed a career-best 61.4 percent of his passes for 2,562 yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 13 starts. He missed four games in 2023 with a dislocated thumb.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
The Bears went 5-8 in Fields' starts in 2023, putting his career record at 10-28 as a starter.
Like Wilson, Fields has been a much better passer in his career when utilizing play-action, something with which new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith specializes.
Fields' career passer rating when using play-action is 103.2. His rating when not using play-action is just 76.6.
