Why the Steelers are changing QB Justin Fields’ footwork

PITTSBURGH — With his right foot forward, Justin Fields stood in the shotgun and readied to receive the snap on the third play of the Steelers’ first preseason game.

As he corralled the ball from center Nate Herbig, Fields flipped his stance, dropping back with his right foot and leading with his left as he cocked his right arm to throw.

Within seconds, he locked in on wide receiver George Pickens, who had been split out wide to his left, and delivered a 15-yard dart.

It was the kind of play the Steelers’ brass hoped to see since trading a conditional sixth-round pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for the man the Bears once tabbed as the future of their franchise.

And it’s one that was made possible in part thanks to work that Fields, 25, currently listed second on the Steelers’ depth chart behind Russell Wilson, began seven months ago to revert to the natural throwing stance he used at Ohio State and in his first year in Chicago.The seemingly minute move could help spark Fields’ renaissance in Pittsburgh.

“When I got here, the biggest thing was just, be on time and be accurate,” Fields told ESPN, adding that he can play from either base. “They didn’t really care too much about footwork or that my left foot was up, right foot was up. They just said to me, ‘Just close your eyes and whatever’s most comfortable to you, do that.’ So that’s what I did, and [it was] right foot forward, which makes sense. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

To get back to this point, Fields started showing up three or four days a week at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale or Chase Park in Weston, Florida, for 6:30 a.m. workouts with Oliver Bozeman, a renowned quarterback trainer. During their first offseason together in 2023, the pair started their sessions in early May, but after the season, Fields didn’t waste any time.

“He hit me in December and was like, ‘Hey, OB, look, January, I’m trying to get started. I want to go ahead and get myself back in that position where I was — of dominance.'”

That dominance looked like 5,373 passing yards in two seasons at Ohio State with 63 touchdowns to nine interceptions, a 20-2 record and back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances en route to being selected No. 11 overall by the Bears in 2021. That dominance didn’t quite translate in his rookie year with the Bears, and Fields finished his first year completing 58.9% of his attempts with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. When coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy took over prior to Fields’ second year in Chicago, the pair decided to reverse Fields’ footwork, coaching him to start out with his left foot forward in shotgun.

And while his numbers improved on paper for the next two seasons, Fields was criticized for his decision-making and processing speed. After three inconsistent seasons and two uncertain offseasons, the Bears elected to move on from Fields and draft Caleb Williams.

But even before the Bears’ plans solidified, Fields decided he wanted to return to his roots.

“This offseason, we wanted to kind of move back to what was comfortable for him when he was in college, when he excelled a lot on the field,” Bozeman said. “It seems like every time with the left foot forward, it was always a slight hesitation or a thought to what he was doing just because he wasn’t so comfortable with what he was doing because he was so used to having his right foot forward.”

Bozeman dedicated the first 30 minutes of every session to footwork, beginning with a warmup on the ladder. Then, after getting a feel for Fields’ energy, Bozeman progressed through other drills.

“I’m a footwork guy,” Bozeman said. “Before we even started throwing, we did footwork. His throws for the first 30 minutes were probably within 5 to 8 yards, pushing about 10-yard range. We weren’t so much focusing on the throw, but focusing on the footwork and tying the feet and the eyes together. That was a huge focus this offseason, just how the eyes would dictate what the feet [do], just to get him through his progressions a little bit faster.”

As Bozeman sees it, going back to Fields’ natural footwork allows him to play faster.

“A lot of people don’t understand how quick and how fast the game moves,” Bozeman said. “And just that fraction of a second that you take to think about what you’re doing as a play is starting or developing, it can cause you to be a little late or hesitant in what you’re doing.

“With him having his right foot forward, it eliminated that half a second that he was thinking about what he was doing with having his left foot forward.”

When he arrived in Pittsburgh for OTAs and minicamp, Fields and the Steelers’ coaching staff continued the work he and Bozeman started in January, and playing from his natural stance helped him acclimate more quickly to his new team and to Smith’s offense.

By not further tinkering with his footwork and allowing Fields to play from his natural base, the coaching staff began to earn the quarterback’s trust and accelerated his comfort in the new offensive system.

“Going back to his history, he’s done it multiple ways,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “And that’s the trust you’re trying to build. You can’t be so rigid — a receiver, he may release a certain way and then another receiver doesn’t. It’s not one size fits all, but ultimately it’s about the players and us figuring out their strengths, and how it fits together with all 11 of them out there.”And once he got to training camp, Fields picked right up where he left off.

“He’s really focused so much energy and attention on his footwork in the pocket, playing with a base, working through progressions quickly, being accurate with the ball in the pocket, all of those things you really see,” Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth said. “You kind of saw him starting to take shape in OTAs and minicamp, but these last couple of weeks have been so impressive to me to really see his growth and development as a quarterback.”

There was further tangible evidence of an improvement to Fields’ timing in the Steelers’ first preseason game when the quarterback completed his first five pass attempts, and nearly went 6-of-6 if officials had ruled receiver Van Jefferson’s catch in-bounds.

“No question,” said coach Mike Tomlin, asked if he was pleased with Fields’ rhythm passing in the game. “I thought he — and we — did some good things, but it was just dulled by some of the negativity. But from a rhythm-passing standpoint, distributing the ball to people, I thought he and Kyle [Allen] did a nice job.”

Although Fields and his footwork have impressed the Steelers throughout training camp, he’s still listed as the No. 2 quarterback on the most recent depth chart. Despite Wilson’s limited camp participation, he’s still slated to start Week 1, but that doesn’t mean Fields’ work is insignificant. It’s the first step in reclaiming his identity.