Steelers may have saved Russell Wilson embarrassment of losing starting job

Russell Wilson's time with the Denver Broncos is obviously over. The "revenge" game between the Broncos and Steelers is over, and Wilson didn't even play. But as the season has gone along and Justin Fields continues to start for the Steelers, questions are coming up about the nature of Wilson's calf injury and what is really going on.

Wilson allegedly had a calf injury pop up right before the start of Steelers training camp, which allowed Justin Fields to take the vast majority of training camp reps with the starting offense. Wilson returned to the field for a couple of preseason games in which he was sacked a bunch and struggled to move the offense, perhaps being affected and impacted by the calf injury.

But new theories are starting to spring up about the Steelers potentially protecting Wilson from the inevitable media firestorm and embarrassment of losing the starting job in Pittsburgh outright. The Steelers have clearly not been in a hurry to get Wilson back on the field, and with a 3-1 record four games into the season, they have really no reason to pivot off of Justin Fields.

Did Justin Fields beat Russell Wilson for the QB1 job outright in Pittsburgh?

Fair questions are being asked about what's going on with Wilson in Pittsburgh. He was able to play in the preseason despite the calf injury diagnosis. He was a "game-time" decision back in Week 1 for the Steelers and has been healthy enough to be the emergency 3rd quarterback if needed.

As Wilson ramps up his on-field activity for the Steelers in Week 5 (per Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin), he could be active as the backup quarterback for the Steelers as opposed to the emergency 3rd QB, who can only play if the first two guys are physically incapable.

I don't think it's unreasonable to theorize that Wilson legitimately just lost the QB1 job in Pittsburgh to Justin Fields and the Steelers have put on a masterclass in avoiding the media circus that would come along with that.

The Steelers had a reasonable excuse to keep Wilson on the sideline to start the season and see if Justin Fields could legitimately lead the team. Not to mention, Fields has a much better chance of being a viable long-term option for the Steelers beyond 2024. Wilson probably isn't that.

The Steelers gave themselves an easy "out" if Fields struggled early. They could put Russell Wilson back in the lineup if Fields wasn't passing the eye test or was becoming a liability out there. But he's played well through four games. Now, they've set themselves up to stick with Fields and say that they are not going to mess with what's working.

Now, if Russell Wilson had been the opening day starter for the Steelers and played poorly, they might be forced into unceremoniously benching him for Fields at some point this season. And the optics of that would be detrimental to Wilson's overall legacy as a quarterback in the NFL, to be benched two years in a row by different teams.

The Steelers have done everything they can to protect Wilson, which you have to give them credit for. They even gave him a "petty" game ball after their win in Denver back in Week 2.

Even though we may never know whether or not Wilson actually lost the QB1 job in Pittsburgh, what does any of this have to do with the Denver Broncos? Well, it could possibly exonerate Sean Payton, who has come under a ton of fire for the way he "treated" Russell Wilson last year. It might just be that Wilson is no longer a viable starting quarterback option at the NFL level.

Without his elite mobility, Wilson has a hard time winning games from the pocket and took a whopping 100 sacks with the Broncos in the last two seasons. That's not conducive to any sort of offensive success. And perhaps the Steelers saw Wilson's overall mobility on the decline and decided that at least Justin Fields gives them a dual threat in Arthur Smith's offense, which has been extremely favorable to dual-threat QBs.

Piling on Russell Wilson is beyond tired at this point, but due to the fact that the Broncos still have $85 million in dead cap tied up in Wilson (including nearly $38 million in cash this season), we're still going to be monitoring his situation every single week.