Steelers' Russell Wilson addresses Arthur Smith relationship rumors

During a Wednesday appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," veteran quarterback Russell Wilson currently of the Pittsburgh Steelers confirmed that he wants to "hopefully finish" his career with the AFC North club. 

Wilson also addressed rumors suggesting he and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith had somewhat of a rocky relationship during the 2024 season. 

"Yeah, I like Arthur," Wilson said, as shared by Josh Carney of Steelers Depot. "I think everybody trusts him. ...I think Arthur's just a great coach. I think, obviously, he's been a head coach, and we love trying to find ways to compete every day and just get better. And so, you know, he's a great coach." 

Back on Jan. 14, Steelers insider Mark Kaboly of "The Pat McAfee Show" revealed that "a team source recently said that Wilson and Smith did not have a very good working relationship but fought through their differences as best they could" as Pittsburgh fell from 10-3 to 10-7 before the club's wild-card playoff loss at the rival Baltimore Ravens. 

A report from earlier this week said that backup Justin Fields "was favored by some of the (Pittsburgh) offensive coaches to be the starter" over Wilson before the 36-year-old fully recovered from a calf injury and became Pittsburgh's full-time QB1 in Week 7. 

More recently, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted during a question-and-answer session that "there was some type of disconnect between the way Wilson wanted to play and the way Smith wanted him to play." 

The Wilson-Smith connection became all the more interesting when, as Carney mentioned, the Chicago Bears and New York Jets chose other candidates for their head-coaching openings. While it seems that Smith will remain with the Steelers through the offseason, Wilson's "biggest supporter" in the team building may be none other than head coach Mike Tomlin. 

Dulac previously pointed out that Tomlin and Co. have little interest in pursuing potential free-agent quarterbacks such as Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets, Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons and Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings. Assuming Dulac is correct, it's fair to think that Tomlin may believe that pairing Wilson with a rookie or a project who isn't Fields could be what's best for the 2025 Steelers.