Russell Wilson or Justin Fields – who do the media want to put forward?

While it’s almost certain that the Pittsburgh Steelers will start Russell Wilson instead of Justin Fields in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons, there’s another, more interesting question. WHO should they launch? Putting reality aside and listening to the voice of the national media, who would they launch?

I’ve collected the opinions of 22 of the most prominent national analysts on television, as every personality, show, podcast and channel has debated Wilson vs. Fields over the past month. Below are the two camps – those who think Wilson should start and those who believe Fields should be the right fit. That’s based on either an explicit opinion or an implicit opinion, meaning comments that clearly showed they were in favor of starting one quarterback over the other.

Here’s who’s in the Wilson camp.

Russell Wilson

Mr Edwards
Booger McFarland
Plaxico Burress
Ryan Clark
Bart Scott
Ryan Blatt
Bill Belichick
Bill Cowher
Akbar Gbajabiamila
Robert Griffin III

And the names in Fields’ camp.

Justin Fields

Mina Kimes
Daniel Parkins
Mark Schlereth
Daniel Orlowski
Michael Florio
Gerald McCoy
Tim Hasselbeck
Casual Douzable
Kyle Long
Chris Simms
Mike Tannenbaum
Stephen A. Smith

The totals?

Start Justin Fields: 12
Start: Russell Wilson: 10

Fields has the edge, but only just. Some of the analyst comments not included here just weren’t clear enough to include, while others, like Orlovsky’s, were a bit more mixed, though he seems to be more bullish on Fields than Wilson.

It’s worth noting that three former NFL head coaches support Wilson: Herm Edwards, Bill Cowher and Bill Belichick. And likely the entire Wilson camp believes Fields should play a role. Edwards has said so explicitly.

Fields’ camp consists of a handful of former players such as Schlereth, Orlovsky, McCoy, Hasselbeck, Douzable, Long and Simms. They also include Tannenbaum, a former general manager whose suggestion of trading Wilson to the Minnesota Vikings seemed to be a support for Fields.

Three of the former NFL quarterbacks listed here favor Fields, while Leaf and Griffin show their confidence in Wilson. In this week’s Friday Five, we’ll be sure to ask who you want to see start so we can compare your views with those of the commentators.

What does all this mean? Not much! You probably already know that. None of the outside disagreements, including my own opinion (which favors Wilson over Fields, in case you were wondering), matter. Only Mike Tomlin’s decision matters. Such are the perks of being a head coach. And the decision seems almost certain to go Wilson’s way, with Tomlin likely announcing it next Tuesday during his first press conference of the regular season. How long Wilson plays remains to be seen, but considering Mitch Trubisky plays four games in 2022, Wilson will likely be around that long.

And probably even longer.