Justin Fields a Steeler!

Rat

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Been a Howell fan for a while now, but damn I would not have hated Fields for THAT.
 

SonicHawk

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The Steelers gave up a pick. Seattle didn't lose any picks.
I think I’d rather give up a six than drop down in the 3rd and 5th. Howell is what he is. Fields is at least a gamble at potential for what I consider less.

End of the day it’s the backup qb gamble. Not that stressed
 

SonicHawk

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Sorry, nah. Let's say you considered them approximately equal in terms of talent (which wouldn't be nuts since they were both pretty much bottom 5-10 in every major rating metric), there is so much more downside here with Fields.

1) Fields only has 1-year left on his contract and costs much more.
Howell has a cap hit next year if you cut him.
2) Fields is older.
They're 25 and 23, let's not act like that's a huge difference.
3) Fields has started for 3 seasons now and has shown basically no improvement at all.
He threw for more yards and a higher completion rate every year. He also didn't throw 21 INTs. He ran for literally a thousand yards the year prior.
4) What's wrong with Fields seems to be much more intractable than what's wrong with Howell. Howell's issue is that he hasn't adjusted to the speed of the NFL game and needs to understand his limitations as an athlete at this level. That can (potentially) be coached. Fields is still elite as athlete at the NFL level and it simply doesn't matter because he cannot process defenses to save his life.
Howell was a borderline prospect and a borderline NFL QB. This is just hot air. Fields and Howell had similar completion %s, Fields had a higher Y/A, almost as many TDs with less than half the INTs. You think Chicago was in a better position than Washington? Nah.
5) Even if you view both guys purely as backups, Howell works for that so much better than Fields. Howell's style of play is much more analogous to Geno's. Fields would require a completely different playbook.
This I'd probably agree with.
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I am in no way 'falling in love' with our bad backup. I just see things like this: I think Howell is bad but still has potential and actually makes sense as Geno's backup. I think Fields is bad, he's going to stay that way, and would be a poor choice to be Geno's backup.
Howell's ceiling is a 5th rounder who can throw a ton of picks. Fields -- while I also think sucks, has a way higher ceiling.
 

ruffENrowdy

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Howell has a cap hit next year if you cut him.

They're 25 and 23, let's not act like that's a huge difference.

He threw for more yards and a higher completion rate every year. He also didn't throw 21 INTs. He ran for literally a thousand yards the year prior.

Howell was a borderline prospect and a borderline NFL QB. This is just hot air. Fields and Howell had similar completion %s, Fields had a higher Y/A, almost as many TDs with less than half the INTs. You think Chicago was in a better position than Washington? Nah.

This I'd probably agree with.

Howell's ceiling is a 5th rounder who can throw a ton of picks. Fields -- while I also think sucks, has a way higher ceiling.

How is this not better than the Justin Fields situation? At least Sam slings it and can learn from his mistakes dude. Much more upside with Howell, and it's not even close.
 

LastRideOut

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How is this not better than the Justin Fields situation? At least Sam slings it and can learn from his mistakes dude. Much more upside with Howell, and it's not even close.

Agree. Not sure why folks think Fields is so much better. I'm guessing because he was drafted #11 overall?

But yeah, Howell is more of a QB than Fields is, and as you said, it's not even close.
 

DarkVictory23

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Howell has a cap hit next year if you cut him.

They're 25 and 23, let's not act like that's a huge difference.

He threw for more yards and a higher completion rate every year. He also didn't throw 21 INTs. He ran for literally a thousand yards the year prior.

Howell was a borderline prospect and a borderline NFL QB. This is just hot air. Fields and Howell had similar completion %s, Fields had a higher Y/A, almost as many TDs with less than half the INTs. You think Chicago was in a better position than Washington? Nah.

This I'd probably agree with.

Howell's ceiling is a 5th rounder who can throw a ton of picks. Fields -- while I also think sucks, has a way higher ceiling.
1) Why are we cutting him? He's a backup that costs less than a million dollars.

2) It's the difference between a guy who could theoretically still be a draft prospect and a guy who's not.

3) Fields success rate has been bottom 5 every single year he's been in the league, his passer rating this year is almost the same as last year (and was bottom half both times anyway), his QBR dropped this year. His ANY/A has gone up consistently each year but he is currently sitting at 26th. He has improved slightly from his rookie year but in his rookie year he had a legitimate shot at being the worst starting QB in the NFL.

4) You are comparing Howell's first year as a starter to Fields third season getting most of the starting reps and Fields' just barely comes out ahead in the comparison. Things get a lot more interesting if you compare Howell more to Fields first season/season and a half.
As for their respective support, Chicago's offensive line was top 5 in pass block win rate last year while Washington only graded out to 14th, DJ Moore was the fifth highest graded receiving target in the league per ESPN Receiver Tracking Metrics (Terry McLaurin, Howell's highest rated target, was 67th), Chicago's receivers were top 10 in YAC while WAS was bottom half, and WAS's receivers dropped a higher percentage of passes than Chicago's (though neither teams was particularly bad in this area).

5) Since both guys are backups right now, this is probably the most important thing about either of them.
 

olyfan63

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Fields will work out well as a backup for Stealers and Russell will teach him the "Russell Wilson Offense" 2.0. (Sean Payton edition) If I'm a Stealers fan (I'm not), I like this. Pitt will decline his 5th year option in any case. Also, IIRC, Russell has 3 years left on his extension and if it goes well for him there (it will) he'll just re-up the next two years at vet minimum, partly to stick it to Denver, because Russell gets paid from Denver in any case. (Cue Rihanna "Biatch betta have my money")

I like and root for Justin Fields; he's fun to watch, and it was nice to see him working on his maturity. The effort is there. Russell will be a good mentor to him. Steelers getting Justin Fields shows that they understand what they have in Russell. Fields could game-manage a couple wins for Pittsburgh if Russell gets injured.

Steelers aren't expecting Russell to be the franchise savior, just to be the same Russell he was for Sean Payton and the Donkeys. It's a good fit for them. Russell's 26 TDs is a huge upgrade over Pickett's 6 TDs. Steelers will win a couple-three more games than last year, and be a solid playoff team, maybe even make AFCCG.
 

chris98251

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Russell knows how to play the game, he is going to be all smiles on camera and say the right things, he will have to solidify his position there in some way and that will be either really working his ass off and being better, sucking up to Tomlin and gaining favor, or not really helping Fields progress, one just has to remember he needs more years to get added to his contract and Fields is 11 years younger, and he is about his brand. Looking at his out of the gate approach we see his patented intro and Team me statements. He is an artful manipulator so grab popcorn and watch.
 
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Cyrus12

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Russ has a couple bad games and he could find himself on the bench quicker in Shitsburgh than in Denver...Fields may suck but Russ is on more of a downward trajectory than a Boeing max airplane...at least Fields could maybe improve.
 

IndyHawk

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Fields will work out well as a backup for Stealers and Russell will teach him the "Russell Wilson Offense" 2.0. (Sean Payton edition) If I'm a Stealers fan (I'm not), I like this. Pitt will decline his 5th year option in any case. Also, IIRC, Russell has 3 years left on his extension and if it goes well for him there (it will) he'll just re-up the next two years at vet minimum, partly to stick it to Denver, because Russell gets paid from Denver in any case. (Cue Rihanna "Biatch betta have my money")
Denver is only paying Me3 for this coming season,this is why they cut him so
they wouldn't have to pay him for 2 seasons or more.
Me3 can sign anywhere (not here) next season for whatever amount he's not
worth but the only thing hurting Denver is the dead cap hit that they split for
2 seasons (Biggest in NFL history) Just for Me3.
 
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