Arthur Smith joined the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this year and observed the radical shift in the Steelers’ offense the moment he stepped in. They revamped the whole quarterback room and traded Diontae Johnson away as well. Now, all eyes are on Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, who are supposed to elevate the Steelers this year.

It’s phase 3 of the Steelers’ OTA and Smith decided to address the media. He had a lot of explanation to do and gave everyone a sign about how the team was adapting to its new offense while sticking with its firm beliefs and giving room to new ideas at the same time. But most importantly, he provided an update on Wilson and Fields’ progress and how they fit into the OCs schemes.

“Both of them made a lot of plays in this league in big moments. We’re not so rigid you know. Every year I’ve tried to adapt, and we have our core beliefs. There’s things that they’ve historically done well that we try to enhance and there’s other things that we’ve put in that fit really our overall personnel in the way we want to play and going into this season,” said the OC in an interview with Missi Matthews.

He further expressed, “Both of those guys, they are really good play extenders. Certainly, they can change the launch points which gives you an advantage. They are not just sitting there as a statue in the pocket.” Despite all the praises that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are getting, there is just one thing that might be very confusing for a lot of people.

Smith mentioned that the athleticism of the two quarterbacks is one quality that benefits the Steelers’ offense. Making plays with his legs and throwing outside the pocket or outside of structure have been the cornerstones of Wilson’s career. Wilson is a reliable option for offensive coordinators to move about and locate the open receiver when a play goes down. In his tenure with the Denver Broncos, Wilson was actively extending plays. However, it often ended up doing him no good rather than working in his favor.

Justin Fields makes up where Russell Wilson lacks, but there are other concerns

There have been numerous occasions where the Super Bowl-winning QB has extended plays but failed to make anything out of it. Wilson’s delayed passing time often leads him to get sacked. In the last season, he recorded 45 sacks with 3,070 yards and 26 touchdowns, which is a gradual decrease in performance over the years. However, per a Steelers Depot report, Wilson had 18 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on extended plays, which was third-most in the league.

However, he has a low 65.1 extended passing grade, which ranks 21 of the 33 quarterbacks taken in the study. Right after Wilson, there comes Justin Fields with his 63.4 extended passing grade. Lamar Jackson, Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, and Josh Allen are some of the QBs that top the charts when it comes to extending plays.

Jackson led the league in rushing yards last year with 821 yards, which brings us to Justin Fields, who had a whopping 1,143 rushing yards in the 2022 season and 657 rushing in the 2023 season, which means that Fields has the same capabilities. But then again, trying to extend plays comes at the cost of fumbles, interceptions, and sacks.

However, that also makes the jobs of defensive players a bit harder. Though the team has TJ Watt, Cam Heyward, and Joey Porter Jr., their jobs will still get tough if the quarterbacks fumble the ball and give space for opponents to attack them. Despite the play-extending concerns, the team is doing well in terms of their QBs not fumbling the ball all that much. Both Wilson and Fields recorded 3 fumbles last year.

But Wilson was intercepted 8 times and Fields was intercepted 9 times last year, which was problematic for both their teams last season. Though Arthur Smith talks about retaining those qualities, he might consider the possibility of training them in the play-extension/improvisation area some more.