Tim Benz: Steelers QB quandary could present Catch-22 situation with potential receivers

I’m not quite sure if this qualifies as a “chicken-or-the-egg” kind of problem for the Steelers. But it feels like it can be placed under that tent.

Plus, with the price of eggs these days, I’m not sure the Steelers could fit a dozen under the salary cap.

But as Adam Schefter of ESPN pointed out on Tuesday’s “Pat McAfee Show,” the franchise wants to figure out who its starting quarterback is going to be by roughly the end of this week, because when the legal negotiation window opens on Monday, they’d like to know who the most important player on offense is going to be.

To say nothing of how much he’ll eat of the salary cap.

“Pittsburgh is determined to try to get one of these quarterback deals done in the coming days so that it has some clarity going into free agency,” Schefter said. “It’s tough to go into free agency — to go add to your offense — when you have no idea who’s playing quarterback. That’s why I think they’re going to spend this week working on getting a deal done with either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson.”

Seems logical to me, especially considering the Steelers’ pressing need to acquire a veteran wide receiver.

Here’s the problem, though. What if the move at quarterback that makes more sense for the team isn’t the move that is more attractive to many of those wide receivers?

In my eyes, the more prudent decision for the Steelers is probably to choose Fields. He’s younger. He might have more upside. The front office may have an easier time spreading out his cap hit over multiple years than you would with Wilson. And the organization might be able to better sell the optimism of what could still be untapped with Fields, as opposed to the nearly tapped keg that was Wilson at the end of 2024.

From those angles, going with Fields instead of Wilson makes sense.

However, I bet most of the potentially available wide receivers — who would come to Pittsburgh through free agency or some sort of approved trade with a contract extension — would prefer Wilson.

From their standpoint, I’m guessing most of the rumored veteran pass catchers (Davante Adams, Christian Kirk, Darius Slayton, Tyler Lockett, D.K. Metcalf, Cooper Kupp) view Fields as a totally unpolished prospect. Whereas, I suspect most of those guys see Wilson as a much more sculpted product with a more accurate arm and a much better deep ball.

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My presumption is landing any one of those names or others who may be available would be easier to do if it’s Wilson at the helm and not Fields.

So, maybe it isn’t a “chicken-or-the-egg” thing after all. Maybe it’s more of a Catch-22.

Then again, given the state of the receiver room last year, no one could catch 22 of anything.

That was sorta the problem in the first place.