Justin Fields has impressed the Steelers’ coaching staff through two weeks.
Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith spoke about Fields’ output as the team’s starting quarterback in place of the injured Russell Wilson this week.
“What’s been very encouraging to me is his pocket presence,” Smith said, according to Steelers.com. “He’s stood in there when the pocket gets dirty. He’s made some big throws down the field. I’m very encouraged.”
Fields has helped the Steelers to a 2-0 start, throwing for 273 yards and a touchdown while adding 84 yards on the ground, and he hasn’t turned the ball over.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin also had high praise for Fields, who spent the first three seasons of his career with the Bears before coming to Pittsburgh in the offseason, when speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
“He loves to compete,” Tomlin told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s got a quiet confidence about him. He doesn’t change in environments. There’s a clarity in his communication, in his response to communications, that’s really comfortable.”
The Steelers traded for Fields in March, sending a conditional sixth-round pick to the Bears in exchange for the quarterback.
Just a few days earlier, the team had signed Wilson in free agency, setting up what became one of the most competitive positional battles in the NFL.
The Ohio State product was slated to be the backup signal-caller in Pittsburgh after Wilson won the starting job in the preseason, but an ill-timed calf injury sidelined Wilson for the start of the season.
Tomlin hasn’t said definitively what he’ll do at the quarterback position once Wilson is healthy, but it appears Fields is getting a closer look than he did during the preseason.
Fields and the Steelers take on the Chargers on Sunday in their home opener.