The Pittsburgh Steelers have named veteran QB Russell Wilson as their Week 1 starter the team announced Wednesday.
Head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that Wilson would start on September 8th vs. the Falcons despite dealing with a calf injury for the majority of the preseason. The 35 year old QB earned the nod over the recently acquired Justin Fields, whom the team brought in this past offseason to compete for the starting role.
Feels out snapped Wilson 56-25 during the preseason. However, during the limited action which Wilson saw, he generally led the first team offence, going 10 for 12 on a scoring drive before ceding time to the former Bear.
While the Steelers were adamant that they would be holding an open QB competition during training camp, many beat reporters have suggested that Wilson has always had the inside lane on the position. When he takes the snap in Week 1, it will mark the 13th consecutive season of his career that he’s started for his NFL club, which is good for 7th all-time amongst NFL quarterbacks.
The last time fans saw Wilson under centre was Week 16 of the 2023 season as a member of the Denver Broncos. The former Super Bowl champion and Broncos head coach Sean Payton never seemed to get on the same page, leading to his benching in favour of Jarrett Stidham for the final two games of the season.
Now, he’ll take over a remade Steelers offence under the guidance of former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith after his predecessor, Matt Canada, was let go.