The new league year in the NFL begins in less than a week, and the Pittsburgh Steelers still don’t have a quarterback under contract. It is heavily reported that they prefer to bring back Justin Fields over Russell Wilson, as Wilson genuinely upset some in the organization after a report of his strained relationship with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith came out. On top of that, Fields just turned 26 and it makes some sense to lean towards the younger player with upside compared to the older quarterback who showed what the ceiling is just months ago.

And while the Steelers want Fields, he gets closer to hitting the open market with each passing second that a deal isn’t done. According to Aditi Kinkhabwala of CBS Sports, Fields will have a market, and there may be a lack of trust from him towards head coach Mike Tomlin stemming from his benching a season ago.

“There is a market for him and he could chase money,” Kinkhabwala posted on X. “He has to get past any sting/distrust from this season when there was player/assistant sentiment in the building that he return to the starting spot, but Mike Tomlin chose not to do so.”

Fields was 4-2 in six games as a starter with 10 touchdowns to one interception when Tomlin went “Lone Ranger” and benched him in favor of Russell Wilson. Pittsburgh had great results initially, winning six of their next seven games to get to 10-3 on the year. However, they lost their final five games as Wilson and the offense were ice cold and fell apart.

Should there be a lack of trust, the Tomlin himself will have to have conversations with Fields to bridge those worries should they truly want him to be the guy in 2025 and potentially beyond.