Pittsburgh Steelers' owner reveals team’s plan at quarterback

The Pittsburgh Steelers plan to sign one of Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, but not both players, team president Art Rooney II said. Rooney says that he anticipates the team evaluating both quarterbacks and retaining one player, and the hope would be to bring one of those players back on a multi-year deal.

“I think they’re both capable quarterbacks, and my preference would be to sign one of them. So that will be the priority, and I think that will give us the best opportunity to move forward. Obviously, we’ll be looking in the draft as well. We’ve got a whole quarterback room to fill, and so there’s jobs open in there, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if we look in the draft as well either this year or next. And so that’s got to be the priority,” Rooney said.

Rooney added that Fields and Wilson view themselves as starting quarterbacks, which is likely why both players will not be back.

“You know, I wouldn’t close the door, but I’d say it’s probably unlikely. I think both of them see themselves as starters, and I don’t know that they want to share the same job again next year. So I would say most likely we probably don’t wind up bringing them both back,” Rooney said.

Rooney hopes to have an option in place for at least two years to stabilize the quarterback position. The Steelers have turned over their quarterback spot over the last few seasons while trying to find the answer but have remained unsuccessful.

“I think my preference would probably be to have something more than a one-year in place next time around, but we’ll see what it takes,” Rooney said.

Fields and Wilson are both free agents this offseason. Wilson could have a chance to rejoin his old head coach with the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll, in Las Vegas, while Fields will have options as the young, upside-option on the market.

It seems likely the Steelers will try to figure out that situation before they hit the open market, and they should sign one of them.

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