Adam Schefter of ESPN confirmed during a Sportscenter segment on Saturday that the Pittsburgh Steelers are in fact in play for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Despite reports suggesting otherwise, Schefter thinks Atlanta is not a front-runner to trade for Fields.
“I think Atlanta will be something of a surprise right now to trade for Justin Fields,” Schefter said, via On3.com’s Nick Kosko. “There’s been some conversations about the Pittsburgh Steelers, maybe something can be figured out there.”
Bears reporter Ben Devine said the buzz at the NFL Combine matched with Schefter’s report. Rumors are that Atlanta is intrigued by Kirk Cousins.
“Report from Adam Shefter today is what most heard from the combine – that the #Falcons are interested in Kirk Cousins. The likely teams left for Justin Fields are the #Steelers and #Raiders. Unless the #Bears wait for Cousins to sign, they may just take Pittsburgh’s best offer,” Devine wrote on X.
Asked specifically at the Combine about potentially trading for Fields, Steelers general manager Omar Khan said that he would not get into specifics about the conversations he’s had around the league.
“I’m not gonna go into details about the conversations that we’ve had,” he said. “But like I mentioned earlier, I can tell you that I have an obligation to look at every avenue that’s out there to make us a better football team.”
Khan said that he has full faith in Kenny Pickett as the Steelers’ starting quarterback, but stressed the fact that competition will be a part of the process.
“I have full faith in Kenny,” Khan said. “He’s shown us some good things. Obviously, there were some issues with the offense and I’m excited about the impact that Arthur Smith is going to have on him. Arthur is very optimistic about Kenny. I know they’ve communicated. We’ll have some strong competition there and we’ll see how it goes. …
“Regardless of what position, not just the quarterback position, you guys have heard me talk about this last year when I first got this job, competition is important to me. And that’s no different to the quarterback position. Competition makes us all better. That’s regardless of position. That’s just in life.”
On an episode of Pardon My Take, Schefter revealed that he believes it could cost multiple picks to land Fields.
“I think that Justin Fields compensation is somewhere between what Alex Smith got and what Sam Darnold got. A two and a four. A two and a five. A two and a three, something like that,” Schefter said.