PITTSBURGH — It was a week of call outs and clap backs in the NFL. Six starts into the Justin Fields era with the New York Jets, he was benched at halftime on Sunday. It only got worse from there; owner Woody Johnson bashed his quarterback, saying, “It’s hard when you have a quarterback with the rating that we’ve got… If we could just complete a pass, it would look good.”
Days later in Denver, coach Sean Payton said that Giants rookie QB Jaxson Dart has provided a “spark” and added that he was “hoping that change would’ve happened long after our game.” Quarterback Russell Wilson, who was, of course, benched after Week 3 in favor of Dart, took the comment from his former head coach as a thinly veiled insult. He chirped back on social media, writing, “Classless… but not surprised… Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later through the media.” (Payton said he didn’t intend to criticize Wilson, but was merely praising Dart.)
No one came out of those interactions looking good. Well, maybe one person did: Arthur Smith.
In his first season as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, in 2024, Smith inherited a pair of quarterbacks in Fields and Wilson, who were — for lack of a better word — castoffs. Fields, a 2021 first-round pick of the Chicago Bears, was available for a conditional sixth-round pick. The Broncos more or less paid Wilson to go away two years after he arrived as a franchise savior, eating $37.8 million of his 2024 salary while the Steelers paid just $1.21 million.
Smith worked around the limitations of both quarterbacks to produce winning results. Fields went 4-2 in his six starts and played some of the best football of his career, good enough to earn two years of guaranteed money in New York. Six games into the season, the Steelers pivoted to Wilson. After a disappointing stint in Denver, he bounced back to win seven of his first eight starts before the wheels fell off at the end.
Both quarterbacks’ struggles this season underscore the job that Smith did with them last year. The three-year sample size shows success with the Steelers, bookend by struggles elsewhere.
Fields’ EPA per dropback was a respectable 0.04 with the Steelers, according to TruMedia; it’s been negative in the years before and after his stint in Pittsburgh. His completion percentage jumped from 61.4 in 2023 to 66.3 with the Steelers in 2024; with the Jets, it’s dipped back down to 63.7. Fields cut down on his sacks last season, something that’s been a problem throughout his career, taking 2.7 per game with the Steelers. He was sacked 3.4 times per game in 2023 with the Bears and 3.7 times per game with the Jets.
A similar story can be told with Wilson. His EPA per drop back was negative in 2023 and 2025, but neutral in 2024. His EPA per attempt was a three-year high with the Steelers at 0.13. Same with EPA vs. the blitz.
Now, Smith appears to be getting the best version of his quarterback yet again. After a five-win season with the Jets in 2024 — during which Aaron Rodgers posted some of the worst numbers of his career — it was fair to question how he’d perform this season at 41 years old. So far, the marriage has been a success. The Steelers are off to a 4-2 start and have a 1.5-game lead in the AFC North.
In virtually every statistical category, Rodgers has taken a major leap this year. His EPA per dropback went from -0.02 last year to 0.13 this season. His EPA per attempt is more than twice as good, going from 0.07 last year to 0.20 this year. His passer rating is up almost 15 points, from 90.5 last year to 105.0 this year. His completion percentage is up more than five points, from 63.0 percent in 2024 to 68.8 this year. Maybe most noticeably, his sacks are down from 2.4 a game in 2024 to 1.5 this season, and his EPA vs. the Blitz has jumped from 0.00 to 0.28, per TruMedia.
More than just underlying metrics, the thing that stands out most is the way Smith has continually evolved his offense to fit the needs of his quarterback — and Rodgers, Wilson and Fields are three very different quarterbacks.
Fields is an elite athlete who has struggled to process from the pocket. Smith highlighted Fields’ mobility with unique run concepts and gave him plenty of easy layups short and outside the numbers.
Wilson was moon ball or check down, with limited mobility. Smith reimagined his offense by dialing up plenty of play-action shots downfield and supported Wilson with a heavy dose of ground and pound.
Now with Rodgers, Smith has a quarterback who still has elite arm talent but isn’t as mobile as he once was. As a result, Smith built an offense full of quick-game concepts to get the ball out of his quarterback’s hand and highlight his precision passing.
Zoom out for a moment. The Steelers went from an athlete at QB to a deep-ball passer to a quick-game wizard. They went from highlighting Fields’ mobility to working around the limitations of Wilson and Rodgers. They went from bombing it long with Wilson to throwing it shorter than anyone else with Rodgers.
Three different QBs. Three different offenses. Three winning formulas.
“That’s one of the things that was attractive to me about him,” said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who cited Smith’s work with Matt Ryan (“a pocket passer”), Marcus Mariota (“a mover”) and Ryan Tannehill (“could move and was a grizzly veteran”).
“He’s been around a variety of guys, but he’s always been adaptable,” Tomlin said. “That adaptability is a major component of coaching. He’s very good at it. He certainly has a mode of options, things he values. But he’s pliable enough to bring the ball not only to his quarterback and their skillset but to the talent within the collective, as well.”
As Smith’s name is circulated as a head-coaching candidate again, it’s hard to say what’s strengthened his case more: The success of Rodgers, Wilson and Fields in Pittsburgh — or the way all three struggled without him.
