NFL Rumors: Russell Wilson, Steelers Coordinator ‘Butted Heads’

The Pittsburgh Steelers underwent a five-week-long crash to end their season, a losing streak that extended into the playoffs.

Longtime Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin took a slew of heat for the collapse, with many questioning the 52-year-old’s future, and team owner Art Rooney II doesn’t have a clear answer for next season’s quarterback situation — Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are both free agents. However, the team’s costly tumble could’ve resulted from a late-season rift between Wilson and Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

“Multiple sources have told the Post-Gazette the offense lacked imagination and that the audibles and route adjustments Wilson was making at the line of scrimmage were creating a conflict with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith,” Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday.

Wilson guided Pittsburgh to a red-hot 6-1 run through his first seven starts of the season, ending the run by outperforming Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. The 36-year-old threw for a season-best 414 yards with three touchdowns as the Steelers dropped 44 points on the Bengals in a Week 13 victory.

Still, it wasn’t enough for Smith to entrust the 13-year veteran quarterback.

“According to several sources, Smith did not want Wilson changing plays at the line of scrimmage, like he did in Cincinnati, and deviating from the game plan,” Dulac wrote.

Smith preferred Wilson stick with the coordinator’s run-first philosophy. However, Wilson favored a pass-first approach which at times, meant abandoning the playbook. Their creative differences weren’t resolved with a simple locker room chat off to the side, and the Steelers paid the ultimate price once Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens met them in the AFC wild-card round.

Wilson finished the campaign racking up 2,482 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions across 11 starts.

Now, as the franchise contemplates everything that went wrong before getting started on making a few crucial offseason decisions, Wilson enters free agency. The Steelers still have a chance to bring the Super Bowl champion back for a redemption run, but that’ll likely depend on Rooney’s influence on the roster.

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