CONGRATULATIONS: The 5-Star QB has Reportedly Agreed a $134.8million Contract with Steelers…
Is Justin Areas truly an alternative for the Steelers?
NFL:
Chicago Bears at Pittsburgh Steelers
Philip G. Pavely
Steelers Country was shaken up this past week after ESPN’s Adam Schefter shared a comment that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin could be a “big fan” of Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Areas.
NFL:
Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bears
Jamie Sabau-USA Nowadays Sports
Tomlin’s potential intrigued in Areas shouldn’t astonish anybody. Amid the owner’s assembly ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft, Tomlin said, “Quarterback portability could be a more critical portion of the amusement than it’s ever been.” You can’t get a much more mobile quarterback than Areas.
After making that comment, the Steelers went on to choose Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett with the No. 20 generally choose within the 2022 NFL Draft. Pickett isn’t within the domain of the competitor that Fields is, be that as it may. Pickett can elude the stash and scramble. Areas, in any case, can elude the take and run for a long landing. There’s a discernible distinction there that can be captivating for the sort of offense they’re looking to construct.
The Steelers haven’t had a hurrying danger from the quarterback position since Kordell Stewart. There’s something to be said for having a quarterback who can tuck the ball and scramble for forty yards, which is something that Areas can offer his team. However, can he be more than that? Does it make sense for the Steelers to yield the necessary draft capital to induce Areas? Why is he possibly accessible? Some time recently replying those questions, we’ll go back to the starting…
Possibly the Steelers did have had a few intrigued in Areas back at that point in the pre-draft prepare. Ben Roethlisberger didn’t see the same amid the 2020 NFL season as he had some time recently the elbow harm. Perhaps they could have drafted Areas and he might have sat and observed Roethlisberger for a season at that point take over. However, Fields was drafted by the Bears at No. 11 generally that year, and the Steelers selected for Pickett within the taking after draft. Presently, it may well be time for the Steelers to return to that intrigued of Areas, on the off chance that there truly ever was any, by means of the exchange showcase.
Why Justin Areas is on the exchange square
Areas begun his career with then-head Matt Nagy, who likely didn’t get the foremost of him early on. In truth, Nagy didn’t do a part of things well, and he was eventually fired by the Bears taking after the 2022 season. They contracted Matt Eberflus as the head coach in 2022, in spite of the fact that the jury is still out on whether or not he’s the answer long-term.
Tragically, notwithstanding of the coaching staff around him, Areas hasn’t made that bounce you need to see from a quarterback as a passer. He’ll be entering his fourth NFL season in 2024, averaging fair 167 passing yards, 1 TD and 0.75 INTs per diversion.
Of course, Areas can be each bit the surging danger that Lamar Jackson is, but the Bears haven’t gotten the movement as a passer. A quarterback can’t just make one passing examined, tuck the ball, and run. Cautious facilitators conspire as well well, and there are a part of guards who are too quick to get absent with that routinely. In case you observe Justin Areas drop back to toss, and the defense keeps up their hole assignments, you fair do not get that feeling that Chicago incorporates a chance to come back in the event that they get down.
Turnovers have moreover played a huge portion within the ups (and downs) of Fields’ career hence distant. In his brief career, Areas has turned the football over 55 times, counting interceptor and misplaced bungles. That’s not sustainable. A number like that will alarm off groups in interest of a quarterback who needs to play a ball-control-style offense… such as the Steelers.
Past the address marks almost Areas, it’s moreover worth noticing that the Bears claim (by means of exchange with the Carolina Jaguars) the No. 1 by and large choose in the 2024 NFL draft. Most examiners anticipate the Bears to utilize that choose and select USC quarterback Caleb Williams, and Vegas concurs, with -400 chances of being selected by the Bears and -900 chances of being drafted to begin with off the board. If Caleb Williams is the “generational” quarterback he’s been charged as, it would be organizational malfeasance by Bears common supervisor Ryan Posts to pass on that kind of difference-maker at the quarterback.
…Unless a team is willing to form a Ricky Williams-type of exchange offer to get up to No. 1 in general. With suspicion off the board, let’s take a see at the sort of exchange bundle the Steelers would got to offer to procure Areas.
Taunt exchange bundle for Justin Fields
What would a exchange bundle to acquire Justin Areas look just? Like the taking after appears within the domain of possibility..
QB Justin Areas
2024 fourth-round choose (No. 111)
2025 fifth-round choose
Bears secure:
2024 second-round choose (No. 51)
Conditional 2026 third-round pick
One would expect based on this exchange that the Steelers would choose up Fields’ fifth-year alternative for the 2025 season, anticipated to be worth $25 million. There would be no point within the Steelers exchanging that kind of draft capital and not picking up the fifth-year option.
Another likely result of such a move would be that Pickett demands a trade from the Steelers. Is Areas an update at the quarterback position over Kenny Pickett?
Most of the stats say that yes, undoubtedly, he is:
Stathead.com
The Steelers require to swing enormous at the position, or hazard falling advance behind the rest of the AFC. In any case, that’s a noteworthy commitment, and it would be a add up to about-face from everything the Steelers have said freely around Pickett. It’s not something that we have seen from them within the past, nor is it something that appears entirely likely for presently.
Even on the off chance that Mike Tomlin does like Areas, this fair isn’t something the Steelers do… indeed in case it may be something that they ought to do.