The Pittsburgh Steelers have until May 2 to decide if they’ll place the fifth-year option on newly acquired quarterback Justin Fields, and according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that is unlikely to occur.
“Justin Fields, of course, now he’s in the final year of his contract. The Steelers are not going to pick up his option. They’re not expected to pick up his option,” Dulac said on the Rich Eisen Show Monday. “I don’t think there’s anything, I’m assuming, to preclude them from redoing his contract and maybe making it a two-year, three-year deal.”
Fields will play under the final season of his rookie contract in Pittsburgh in 2024, and he’s set to earn $3.233 million in the upcoming year. After that, it depends on what the Steelers and Omar Khan decide to do with his option. If the club declines it, Fields can become a free agent. If the Steelers pick it up, they’ll owe him $25.664 million, fully guaranteed in 2025.
The Steelers have other options. They can roll the dice with Fields and let him become a free agent at the end of the year. If he doesn’t start in 2024, he will be unlikely to land a huge deal on the free agent open market, and the Steelers may be able to afford to re-sign him.
Even with acquiring Fields , who’s 25 years old, the Steelers still plan on extending Russell Wilson after the 2024 season, according to Dulac.
Wilson turns 36 in November, but according to multiple reports, Mike Tomlin made it clear that Wilson will be the starter over Fields this season. The team signed Wilson for just $1.21 million on the veteran minimum, as Denver owes him nearly $38 million in guaranteed salary in 2024.
Dulac reiterated on Eisen’s show that the plan for the Steelers is to sign Wilson long-term after 2024.
“It’s Russ’ intention, and the Steelers intention, and two people have told me this who would know. They want to do a longer deal. Now I don’t know what longer means, but their intentions are to do a longer deal after this year,” Dulac said.
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