Steelers Rumors: Russell Wilson, Arthur Smith Didn't Have Good Working Relationship

Russell Wilson had a disappointing end to his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and part of his struggles could be due to reported tension between him and his offensive coordinator.

Per Mark Kaboly of The Pat McAfee Show, Wilson and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith battled through having a bad "work relationship" during the 2024 campaign.

"Still, despite Wilson and Smith spending countless hours together after the typical workday watching film and publicly joking about it, a team source recently said that Wilson and Smith did not have a very good working relationship but fought through their differences as best they could," Kaboly wrote.

According to Kaboly, reports surfaced during the season that Smith preferred Justin Fields over Wilson, though the reports were never "substantiated." Fields, who the Steelers traded for last offseason shortly after landing Wilson, started the first six games of the season and threw for 1,106 yards, 5 touchdowns and one interception. He added 289 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground while leading Pittsburgh to a 4-2 start.

Wilson, who missed the first part of the season while recovering from an injury, threw for 2,482 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions across 11 games. The Steelers won six of their first seven games with Wilson as the starter before collapsing to lose the final four regular-season games of the year.

In Pittsburgh's wild-card matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, Wilson threw for 270 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 28-14 loss.

The Steelers now have a few decisions to make this offseason, the first regarding Wilson, who is set to hit free agency. Wilson could likely find a home with another squad, but he has indicated he wants to return to Pittsburgh next year.

"Yeah, that's the plan," Wilson said, per Kaboly. "Obviously, I love it here and everything else. I think they've known that I always wanted to be here and play here. But it's also a process. We haven't had those meetings yet, so we'll have those, and we'll go from there."

Fields is also set to be a free agent this offseason, so the Steelers will have to choose to bring back one, both or neither of the two quarterbacks. Smith is under contract for the next two seasons and will likely play a big part in helping Pittsburgh's front office decide what to do.

Wilson is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback who once played at an MVP level year in and year out, but he's been far from that caliber of player over the past few years. Fields, though still unproven, showed early last season that he's capable of winning games as a starter.

Needless to say, Mike Tomlin, Smith and the Steelers have an interesting offseason ahead of them.