Tim Benz: Steelers couldn't tell Justin Fields what he wanted to hear — and shouldn't have said it anyway

On Day 1 of the NFL’s legal negotiating period, it was reported that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields had agreed to a contract with the New York Jets.

“NFL Daily” podcast host Gregg Rosenthal said that the Steelers believed Fields would give the club “a Tomlin discount” to stay in Pittsburgh before signing with New York.

the Steelers thought they'd get a Tomlin discount and NOPE. This is now bridge QB money and the Jets need one

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— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM

What is “a Tomlin discount”? The only thing that should’ve been discounted for the Steelers over the past eight years of Tomlin’s tenure are playoff tickets, since those games are usually over by the end of the first quarter.

Equally puzzling were reports of Fields’ strategy during his contract negotiations with the Steelers — specifically, that Fields wanted a commitment that he would be the starting quarterback here.

I have no idea how the Steelers were supposed to guarantee that, and I have no idea why Fields would want that promise when it is one that the Steelers have proven impossible for them to keep.

Whatever version of a fair shake or a kept promise the likes of Mason Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, Melvin Ingram, LeGarrette Blount and James Harrison (the second time around) felt like they were getting, they clearly didn’t receive.

It’s now obvious that Fields felt he deserved better than to be benched after a 4-2 record through six games of his starting run when Wilson aggravated a training camp calf injury to start the 2024 season. That’s despite the “stiff upper lip” visage Fields projected when he was pulled for Wilson after six games.

“I don’t think I played good enough, if I’m being real with you,” Fields said Oct. 17. “If I’m being real with myself, I think if I did play well enough I don’t think there would be any sort of ‘who should be playing, who should not.’”

I gave Fields a lot of credit for having that attitude back in October. Maybe I should’ve given more credit to him for his acting skills. It’s becoming clearer that Fields was putting on a brave front as much as he was owning up to the lack of production that went along with the positive win-loss total.

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What did Fields want the Steelers to tell him during this negotiation process, exactly? Did he want a verbal guarantee that he’d be the starter throughout the season regardless of who else was on the depth chart?

Did he need to hear it through Week 8? The bye? The Ireland game? The end of training camp? What are we talking about?

Who needed to say it? Mike Tomlin, Art Rooney II, Omar Khan, Steely McBeam? All four?

Did it need to be written down, a handshake, a pinky swear, or just whispered in his ear? I’m not sure the collective bargaining agreement covers that kind of language exactly.

Short of the Tomlin-Khan-Rooney II brain trust swearing a blood oath in front of legal witnesses at City Hall, what was Fields expecting? If he played poorly, despite the contract, he may have gotten benched. Pure and simple.

Bill Cowher completely hitched his wagon to Kordell Stewart back in the late ’90s/early 2000s and still benched him when Stewart was playing poorly at times — for the likes of Kent Graham, Mike Tomczak and Tommy Maddox, by the way. That’s just how quarterbacking works.

That threat can’t be “guaranteed” into oblivion, especially if a promising draft choice, trade option or camp darling should present themselves. Just ask Trubisky.

I credit the Steelers for avoiding telling Fields what he wanted to hear because they wouldn’t have meant it if they had said it.

Fields ended up getting a reported $40 million over two years from the Jets, $30 million guaranteed. I never got a sense the Steelers would exceed $20 million-$25 million.

So maybe this was more a matter of Fields saying, “Buy my trust,” than it was a case of him trying to force the Steelers to create a sense of trust. Either way, it didn’t work out.

At least it didn’t work out here in Pittsburgh, anyway. Let’s see how it goes for Fields in New York.

And let’s see who Khan, Tomlin and Rooney eventually find to fill the job in Pittsburgh many of us felt could’ve been Fields’ in the first place.

Come to think of it, since I brought up Steely McBeam’s name, at this point, don’t rule him out.