The Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly made an early decision about Justin Fields’ future this week.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Steelers plan to decline the fifth-year option on the recently acquired quarterback’s contract.
The Steelers had a tough decision ahead of the May 2 deadline.
Fields has never played a snap for the team after being acquired this offseason, making it hard for Pittsburgh to know whether it should seek two years of a sample size or just one.
The pros for declining the option seemed to outweigh the negatives.
For one, the fifth-year option for Fields was an estimated $25.6 million in 2025, which is starting quarterback money.
Heading into the 2024 season, however, Fields will be the backup to Russell Wilson.
It’s certainly possible that he’ll eventually win the starting job and even thrive in the role, but for now it’s an unknown.
From an asset perspective, the Steelers only gave up a 2025 conditional sixth-round draft pick that could become a fourth-rounder depending on playing time.
So even if Fields walks in a year, the Steelers didn’t give up a ton of resources for a one-year rental.
And the team could always agree with Fields on an extension should he thrive or keep him on the franchise tag for the 2025 season.
The only major incentive for exercising the fifth-year option was that it guaranteed two seasons (and potentially up to four depending on the team’s franchise tag usage) with Fields, eliminating the possibility that he could depart in free agency in a year.
That would have been beneficial if Fields plays like a star in 2024, and would also have been a vote of confidence in him.
If the young quarterback was less of a question mark in general, he likely would have demanded a greater return in a trade and wouldn’t be heading to Pittsburgh as a backup.
In that scenario, picking up the fifth-year option would have likely been a given.
