Which NFL teams tried to trade for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields?
With the Steelers sitting pretty, there’s no surprise that everybody is talking about the man under center who was targeted by other teams before his move.
It wasn’t that long ago that many were questioning whether or not the Steelers’ new quarterback had what it takes to make it in the NFL. After a less-than-ideal start to life with the Chicago Bears, the pressure was on. That seems to be a distant memory now.
Justin Fields was a wanted man prior to Steelers’ trade
Fans will recall that it was just this past offseason that Justin Fields secured a move to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the modest price of a conditional late-round draft pick this offseason. Yet, to hear Fields tell it, things could have been very different given that Pittsburgh wasn’t the only team that was interested in acquiring him. Speaking during an appearance earlier this week on the “Not Just Football” podcast alongside his teammate Cameron Heyward, Fields revealed that at least three other teams inquired as to his availability.
“I’m not sure of all the teams,” Fields said. “But there were a lot of teams that already had solidified quarterbacks, and I didn’t want to do that. Chargers were one, Ravens were another. Raiders, they talked a little bit. I don’t know too much. Who else was in there, I don’t know, but a lot of teams had solidified quarterbacks who just got new contracts, so I didn’t want to [go] there.” What’s interesting here is that if we take that at face value, it would seem to suggest that Fields himself had a hand in his move to Pittsburgh, something previously reported.
There is also the context of it all which is to say by the time Fields joined the Steelers, the team had already acquired Russell Wilson from the Denver Broncos. On the other hand, the Super Bowl winner was only offered a one-year contract and has since seen his role derailed by a calf injury. To that end, Wilson is yet to make his debut for the team which has led to Fields being given the green light and as we know, he’s embraced it. As for those teams that Fields mentioned, everything seems to have been tied up.
The Chargers eventually went with Taylor Heinicke in a late-August trade with the Atlanta Falcons, the Ravens chose to continue with Josh Johnson behind MVP Lamar Jackson, and the Raiders signed Gardner Minshew as a competitor for the resident QB, Aidan O’Connell, who was later demoted to backup during the preseason. Ultimately, none of those teams have a 3-0 record while the Steelers do with Fields having completed a career-high 73.3% of his passes while the team waits on Wilson to recover. As things stand, he’s now set to make another start against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4 which begs the question of how the Steelers will handle the inevitable choice between quarterbacks when Wilson is finally ready.