Steelers' Russell Wilson Finally Nearing 100% Health

The Pittsburgh Steelers weren't expecting to start Justin Fields to begin the season, but it has worked out in their favor. Fields has shown some major growth in a few areas, as he has helped lead the team to a 3-1 record to start the year. Russell Wilson has yet to practice in live team drills since his calf issue flared up prior to Week 1. A lot of his limited reps have come as the third-string quarterback, which is why he has been the emergency inactive QB on game day each week, which slots Kyle Allen in as the primary backup. 

During his Tomlin Tuesday press conference, Head Coach Mike Tomlin gave an update on Wilson's injury and what the practice week will look like for him.

"Just met with our training staff and [Russell Wilson] and plotted out a course for his work today. He'll have another strong work day today. We'll see how he feels in the morning, and we'll let that be our guide in terms of his participation, but it seems like he's in a place where his participation is going to pick up some in terms of a practice setting: a live pocket, if you will. We won't draw too many conclusions, but we'll just start that process, and we'll comb through that day by day, evaluate his ability to move and function and protect himself and obviously evaluate his level of productivity, and we'll let that be our guide in terms of whether we get into serious consideration as we push forward towards our game time this week."

While Wilson's workload will finally start to increase, it does not seem like he will be in strong consideration to be the starting quarterback for their Week 5 game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. Fields has been developing during his time in Pittsburgh, but now, the world will get to see how he performs with the spotlight on him. Can he handle it, or will he revert back to his Chicago Bears form? 

Even though Fields has progressed nicely, Tomlin has not been willing to officially name him as the starting quarterback, claiming that it wasn't necessary to do so. Once Wilson is finally healthy enough to show off what he is capable of, Tomlin will give him his opportunity to take his spot back and start for the Steelers. That could happen as soon as this week.

Why Would The Steelers Bench Fields For Wilson?

One thing that Tomlin and the Steelers strongly value is seniority, for better or worse. Wilson is a Super Bowl champion that has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. He has been on some well-coached teams and some poor-coached teams. There isn't much that he hasn't seen, while Fields is still learning and developing on the fly. Wilson is older by a decade, and that means something to the team. 

Even though they signed Wilson for the veteran minimum, the Steelers still did so with the hope that they would get the version of him that could win a Super Bowl, as opposed to the one that made Sean Payton want to cut him and take on an exorbitant dead cap hit. The team wanted to treat Fields like a prospect, but Wilson's injury forced their hand.

Even if Wilson is a slight upgrade to Fields, why would a coach just halt the development of his young quarterback? Fields has shown poise and maturity that the Bears rarely saw, if ever. Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith and Quarterbacks Coach Tom Arth have done a good job at taking a supposedly broken project and making a starting-caliber quarterback out of it. If Fields continues to grow like he has been, he could hit his potential. Why would Tomlin want to hold off on that just to see what the 35-year-old has left in the tank?

What do you think about Wilson possibly coming back into the picture soon, as well as his chance to take the starting quarterback role back? Let us know in the comments.

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