{"id":39918,"date":"2025-04-10T07:44:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=39918"},"modified":"2025-04-10T07:44:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:44:50","slug":"breaking-justin-fields-speaks-out-on-steelers-midseason-benching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=39918","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Justin Fields Speaks Out on Steelers Midseason Benching.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2194150294.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2194150294.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2194150294.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2194150294.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Justin Fields\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"926\" data-img-load-time=\"1092\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Quarterback Justin Fields addressed the Pittsburgh Steelers benching him after a 4-2 start during 2024 in his New York Jets introductory presser.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Quarterback\u00a0Justin Fields\u00a0was a great teammate after the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0benched him following his 4-2 start to the 2024 season. Despite no longer being on the team, Fields has continued being a standup football player.<\/p>\n<p>During his introductory press conference with the\u00a0New York Jets\u00a0on Wednesday, Fields once again addressed his Week 7 benching. Fields implied he struggled with Mike Tomlin\u2019s decision to start\u00a0Russell Wilson\u00a0beginning on October 20.<\/p>\n<p>However, Fields again ultimately supported his former coach\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was different for me and a space I wasn\u2019t really comfortable,\u201d Fields told reporters,\u00a0via The Athletic\u2019s Zack Rosenblatt. \u201cBut Coach Tomlin made a decision he thought was best for the team. I\u2019m never going to go against that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just tried to change my perspective and get better in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In one season with the Steelers,\u00a0Fields completed\u00a065.8% of his passes for 1,106 passing yards with five touchdowns and one interception. His completion percentage was a career best along with his interception rate.<\/p>\n<p>Fields also rushed for 289 yards and five touchdowns, leading the Steelers to a 4-2 record as a starter.<\/p>\n<p>In NFL free agency,\u00a0Fields signed\u00a0a two-year, $40 million contract to join the Jets.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Should Steelers Regret Benching Justin Fields?<\/h2>\n<p>Perhaps it\u2019s fitting the Jets waited almost a full month to hold Fields\u2019 introductory press conference. With it held now, Steelers Nation had time to fully reflect what\u2019s happened behind center in Pittsburgh over the past several weeks.<\/p>\n<p>All signs point to Aaron Rodgers signing with the Steelers to start in 2025. Whether that happens for not, Pittsburgh is fully turning over its quarterback room for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n<p>Fields was one of the major dominos in that happening.\u00a0Multiple reporters and insiders identified\u00a026-year-old as the main quarterback target for the Steelers this offseason. But the team was unable to agree to a contract before Fields\u2019 agent began negotiating with the Jets.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the analyst, Rodgers is considered an upgrade over Fields. But at best, Rodgers is a short-term upgrade since he\u2019s 15 years older than Fields.<\/p>\n<p>One has to wonder if Tomlin didn\u2019t bench Fields in favor of Wilson in October, would Fields still be Pittsburgh\u2019s starting quarterback?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Fields Says Benching Didn\u2019t Impact Free Agency Decision<\/h2>\n<p>The obvious second part of that question is whether the benching played a role in Fields\u2019 decision not to return to Pittsburgh. If it did, it\u2019s much more likely the Steelers will one day regret the choice to begin starting Wilson.<\/p>\n<p>But Fields made it clear to reporters that the benching didn\u2019t factor much into his free agency decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot really. You can\u2019t take things personal,\u201d\u00a0Fields told the media. \u201cAt the end of the day, I was just excited about what the Jets had going on here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt didn\u2019t have anything to do with Pittsburgh but the opportunity I had here to make an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s much more likely money played a role.\u00a0NFL reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala reported\u00a0the Steelers offer to Fields didn\u2019t include any guaranteed money after the first year.<\/p>\n<p>If the Steelers really wanted Fields to return, they likely would have made a more competitive offer. But the question that will remain unanswered is if the benching didn\u2019t happen, would Fields have played well enough for the Steelers to confidently offer him a better deal to stay?<\/p>\n<p>Steelers Nation will never know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Quarterback Justin Fields addressed the Pittsburgh Steelers benching him after a 4-2 start during 2024 in his New York Jets introductory presser. Quarterback\u00a0Justin Fields\u00a0was a great&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Justin Fields Speaks Out on Steelers Midseason Benching.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=39918\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Justin Fields Speaks Out on Steelers Midseason Benching.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Quarterback Justin Fields addressed the Pittsburgh Steelers benching him after a 4-2 start during 2024 in his New York Jets introductory presser. 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