Steelers Captain Reveals Locker Room’s Response to Russell Wilson Change and How Justin Fields Handled the Demotion

The Pittsburgh Steelers have come close to their playoff dreams. The overhauling of the franchise, to some extent, definitely did wonders for the Steel City, as they now sit at the top of the AFC North with 10 wins and three losses. So, yes, it’s safer to say that Mike Tomlin’s decision where he “went Lone Ranger” to bring Russell Wilson, despite Justin Fields’ 4-2 record, turned out to be fruitful.

The result? The full locker room is happy; even Justin Fields and Russell Wilson are mingling well. This is evident from the Steelers’ defensive captain of the season, Cam Heyward, who was voted by the players to be the defensive leader. Heyward recently joined The Rich Eisen Show, where he was asked about how the team is going with Mike Tomlin’s decision and how the HC came up first to announce the news of choosing Wilson over Fields.

To which, Heyward said, “I think he approached it in a way where Mike Tomlin was transparent to begin with. He said, ‘we have two quarterbacks (and they) could start anywhere, and I’m going to give Russ (Russell Wilson) an opportunity here,’ (so) the thing he asked from everybody was make him right in his decision you know and that’s our job week in and week out so there was never a question of us questioning what we wanted, it’s just we got to make this guy look right.” So, according to Heyward, the team’s only focus was to listen to their coach and do everything to make him right.

That’s the reason they all were happy with whoever takes the QB 1 position because the team thinks both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are great quarterbacks. But what about these two QBs? Competing each other for one role can definitely bring some kind of discontentment with each other. But it seems in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields’ case, it was not like that!

How did Russell Wilson and Justin Fields manage Mike Tomlin’s crucial decision?

During the same episode, Cam Heyward informed that both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields “have handled it (Mike Tomlin’s decision) beautifully. They’re always communicating, they’re always talking, and we understand that we’re going to need both of these guys to get to where we want to get to.” So, in short, both the quarterbacks are perfectly in line with what Mike Tomlin wants, i.e., only victory.

This is also evident in what Tomlin earlier said in the offseason – “Those guys have been really good in terms of their participation and engagement.” Not only that! Even, Fields has earlier admitted that the two know each other since his college days. He said, “We’ve known each other for a good bit now, and the fact that I get to learn stuff from him and know that the things that he’s accomplished up to this point in his career has been great.”

Hence, he keeps learning from his senior, and on the other hand, Wilson, too, loves the young QB. He even admitted that whatever experiments they do on the field, they make sure to discuss those with each other, keeping everything transparent and in line. Well, all these clearly tell that the Steelers have a strong union ship in them!