One significant order of Pittsburgh Steelers business is squared away for the 2024 NFL season. Another is just beginning the sorting process, even if the franchise continues to insist otherwise.
That’s how Pittsburgh is moving into its most pivotal practices of the offseason, getting ahead of this week’s full-squad minicamp — and a quarterback battle between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields — by signing head coach Mike Tomlin to a three-year extension that will take him through the 2027 season. With Tomlin’s previous contract expiring after 2024, the new deal was a pressing item on ownership’s agenda, eliminating speculation about Tomlin’s job security as he enters what could have otherwise been framed as a lame duck season.
Now the franchise has removed one major lingering question mark, freeing Tomlin and his staff to focus on a decision that could define the Steelers this season.
Wilson or Fields?
Russell Wilson (3) is the favorite to enter the 2024 NFL season as the Steelers’ starting QB over Justin Fields. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
We’ll get to that in a moment, but first the Tomlin contract. It will no doubt frustrate some of his critics, who continue to point to his lack of a playoff win since the 2016 season and zero Super Bowl appearances since the 2010 season. That hasn’t undermined ownership support for Tomlin, whose supporters in the building are quick to point to the team’s winning records despite mediocre-to-poor quarterback play dating back to Ben Roethlisberger’s final NFL season in 2021. Tomlin managed to string together moderate success in spite of deficits created by injuries, poor offensive scheming and a rotation of lackluster quarterbacks. All of this culminated in the in-season firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada and the jettisoning of the entire quarterback depth chart in the offseason.
Boiled down, ownership ultimately saw the struggles as shared mistakes between the coaching staff and front office, but also…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/with-mike-tomlins-steelers-extension-signed-the-russell-wilson-vs-justin-fields-qb-battle-begins-225324409.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-10 22:53:24
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