For Russell Wilson, he may have to choose Door No. 3. In Jay Glazer’s mind, Wilson is not going back to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And he’s definitely not reuniting with Pete Carroll in Las Vegas. Weighing on on the uncertain future of the Steelers’ quarterback situation on NBC’s Fantasy Football Happy Hour, Glazer doesn’t know who will start for the team in 2025. But he knows it won’t be Wilson.
“I don’t think that’s gonna happen, either,” Glazer said referencing Wilson not returning to Pittsburgh or going to Las Vegas. “I think you’ll see a new start for Russell somewhere.”
In fact, Glazer was most confident Wilson wouldn’t go to the Raiders, pointedly saying “that ain’t gonna happen.”
Wilson has remained opened and adamant about focusing on re-signing with the Steelers. Pittsburgh hasn’t officially closed that door but local and national reports haven’t shown much belief in Wilson returning. Despite briefly elevating the offense to new heights, the Steelers came crashing down to Earth with a five-game losing streak and one of the worst collapses in franchise history. It’s tough for Wilson to come back from that.
Glazer seemed unsure if even Justin Fields would return.
“I got no idea. No, I don’t think…I don’t know,” Glazer said when prompted if Fields would be the team’s choice.
While Glazer is offering one report and wasn’t completely firm on Fields, he’s as plugged-in with Mike Tomlin as any reporter in the NFL. While Glazer has downplayed his connections with Tomlin, he’s a trusted insider and admitted even recently texting with Tomlin.
He noted the team has been busy preparing for the Super Bowl and “compartmentalized” their quarterback decision for later in the offseason after the NFL Combine. That will create about a 10 day window before the start of the new league year for the team to determine if Wilson, Fields, or neither player will return. Art Rooney II indicated his “preference” was for one of the 2024 starters to be retained and with Wilson out of the picture in Glazer’s mind, that only leaves Fields.
“I don’t think they know who their starting quarterback will be yet,” Glazer said.
External options are slim, especially if Sam Darnold stays in Minnesota. Glazer mentioned the possibility of using the franchise tag to keep Darnold a Viking. Cleveland Browns’ QB Jameis Winston has expressed a desire to play for Tomlin but his volatile and turnover-prone ways don’t mesh with team philosophy. Glazer hinted Wilson’s personality didn’t fit perfectly, either.
“I think Arthur Smith did a hell of a job there this year with both those guys. He got a lot out of Justin, got way more out of Russell than I thought. And I think the problem, too, the way I saw it was, ‘Hey Russ, you’re gonna play Steelers football.” We’re okay being a 3rd and 2 team. “There’s no ‘Let Russ Cook’ stuff anymore.
“And I think when they started having success, Russ was like, ‘oh, this is me. I got this. They’re like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. Get back to how we were doing it.’ But that’s Russell. And I get it. You have to have a certain ego to play that and be great at that position.”
That could be furthered by recent conflicting reports over Wilson’s freedom in the offense. A Tuesday report from the Post-Gazette indicated Smith took away Wilson’s ability to make checks at the line of scrimmage late in the season. Reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala pushed back on the narrative and stated the report surfaced only to serve Wilson’s goals. If even more friction was created by these media reports, Wilson’s odds of returning look even slimmer.
If not Pittsburgh and not Las Vegas, it’s difficult to see where Wilson will end up. Perhaps the quarterback-needy New York Giants, who Wilson visited with before flying to Pittsburgh last March. Failing that, there’s a chance he’ll have to wait on the open market until after the draft when teams have more clarity on their depth chart and quarterback outlook. Pittsburgh is hoping to sign someone sooner than later, especially to draw in free agents who would like to know which quarterback is leading the team into 2025.
