NFL News: Patriots to name starting QB Thursday after Steelers dub Russell Wilson QB1 | CBS Sports

Well, it's taken all preseason, but we finally have a quarterback won in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have named Russell Wilson their starter for week one. Wilson beat out Justin Fields for the starting job. He'll be under center on September 8th when Pittsburgh takes on the Falcons in Atlanta. Russ, of course, spent the last two seasons in Denver, throwing 42 touchdowns and 19 picks. He was released by the Broncos in March, signing with the Steelers on a one year deal later that month. Let's bring in our resident Steelers fan and of course, our football analyst, Ryan Wilson, to discuss and what a week Ryan, my Cowboys got CeeDee lamb sorted out and your Steelers have their quarterback situation sorted. Are you happy with Russell Wilson as the QB? One I don't know if happy is the word. I think this is what was going to happen all along. If you sort of listen to the Steelers beat reporters going back to the spring when they signed Russ, and basically what Mike Tomlin said even before Justin Fields, they made that trade for him later in the in the spring. So this was going to be their guy. I think they got sidetracked a little bit. Haley. When Russ hurt his calf early on in training camp. So he didn't take part in the early preseason games. We saw a lot of Justin Fields. Justin Fields was okay. He wasn't great. Some of the same things we saw in Chicago and why he's no longer there. But I think this quarterback room is a lot better than it was 12 months ago. Even though we heard our buddy Pete Prisco say earlier in HQ that he thinks this is the last place team in the AFC North, we'll find out together in terms of that. But I think the offensive line is going to be better, even if it's a bit younger, and Russ gives him a little more stability. And to Pete's point, he didn't play great the last two years in Denver. So he's going to have to turn things around. I think Arthur Smith the new OC, helps with that because there's going to be a huge balance in terms or better balance, I should say, in terms of running the ball and throwing the ball. And we know Arthur Smith likes to lean on the run game, and that's where Najee Harris comes in. Definitely. And they will, of course, face Arthur Smith's former team and the Falcons in that week one matchup. So we have one quarterback competition done. There's still one spot though up for grabs in New England. Drake Maye really made this quarterback conversation a little bit more interesting for his head coach Jerod Mayo. And Jerod was actually asked about that today. Just how he approaches telling the player and what it looks like to name a starting quarterback. Let's listen in to that sound real quick. What did you tell the team? Who's going to be the starting quarterback? Do you have to explain it to them? Do you think or do you just make that announcement and that's it. And it is what it is. Look, they've gone through the process as well. They've gone through the spring with these players. They've gone through training camp with these players. I'm sure they all have an opinion on who they think should be the starting quarterback, but I don't think I have to explain it to anyone else. It's my decision. And look, if it doesn't work, blame me, blame me. Coach, what can you tell us? Sorry, I would say one thing. I think it's important to remember, like, what's good for the team today may not be good for the team. Weeks down, the weeks down. The line. And so I think the, you know, the challenge is you want to win every single game now. But also we're trying to build something special here in New England so that that to me was, you know, that was a challenge. Okay. Ryan. So obviously a decision needs to be made. It sounds like it's a challenging decision for Jerod Mayo here. I'm curious your thoughts after hearing that and what direction he should go in with that quarterback competition. Haley, I wonder how this rates and our colleague Tom Fanelli's whoopsie daisy scale in terms of what we're hearing from Jerod Mayo, because it felt like for the longest time that this was Jacoby Brissett job. Yeah Drake Maye is only 21 years old. He's done extremely well. Exceeded probably most people's expectations during the preseason. He's looked really good. The issue is the same issue it's been for weeks and months. The offensive line is in disarray, especially at the tackle position. And if you don't have offensive tackles that can protect your quarterback, it doesn't matter who it is, he's going to take a beating. And my buddy Rick Steele and I have talked about this with the first pick for a few weeks now. It feels like a situation where Jacoby Brissett should start, and then you can go back or you can turn to Drake Maye. What can't happen. And it felt like Jerod Mayo was trying to say this. If you start Drake Maye in week one and he gets his brains beaten in for the next three or 4 or 5 weeks, you can't bench him and then come back to him and bench him and come back to him. That's not a recipe for success for a young quarterback. So this is intriguing to me. I thought it was a done deal in terms of Jacoby Brissett. You see the schedule here. It is brutal up top. Bengals, Seahawks. Jets 40. Niners. Does Drake Maye survive that. That's the question I would lean towards Jacoby Brissett. It feels like Jerod Mayo is not quite certain after what we saw from Drake Maye in the preseason. But I wouldn't overcomplicate it because you don't want to be a situation where Drake gets sacked a ton and then you have to take him out in week 5 or 6. Ryan, just to follow on that, because I know that there's a lot of Patriots fans with those same concerns. They don't want to put their franchise quarterback out behind a shaky offensive line until they can get all of that sorted, too. So at what point of the season do the Patriots have to say, look, we need to get this guy in the game. He needs to get reps. We need to turn our seasons around here. So at what point do you think we see him start? Drake Maye is one of the youngest players drafted Haley. And in a perfect world with the understanding that the Patriots aren't winning ten games. And I think their win total right now is four and a half. So if they win 5 or 6 games, I wouldn't play him at all. Maybe you play him the last month of the season, the last few weeks of the regular season, once it's clear that they're out of the playoff chase. But I don't know if there's a rush to get him out there. I know some people will argue that the more reps you can take, the better, and I think in a perfect world, that's the case. But we saw going back in the day to David Carr when he was drafted by the Texans. He was regularly sacked 70 times a year and that's no way to start a career. So I would be fine sitting for the year. We live in a day and age where that doesn't happen with first round quarterbacks, so if you can get to Thanksgiving and then give him a chance to get his feet wet, I would like to see that happen. I imagine he sees the field much sooner than that. Haley, I know our producer, Boney is clapping his hands for that one. As a Patriots fan with protecting his quarterback up there. So we'll see. The Patriots do open the season against the Bengals on CBS September 8th. Let's go over to San Francisco where, look, the cuts are done. The deals have been signed. The roster is finalized. And yet here we are, still just about a week ahead of week one. And we still haven't seen any movement for Brandon Aiyuk or even Trent Williams for that matter. At this point in the season here. Ryan, is it worth the headache to try and get something done here, particularly with Brandon Aiyuk or I mean, what are our options at this point? Because we were talking over and over again about the trades and how long Williams is going to hold out here. Is this really worth it? It's worth it because this is a playoff team and a Super Bowl team. Perhaps in San Francisco, and it feels like an unforced error when we talk about that sometimes with with really good organizations, you don't see the Chiefs having these sort of issues or they find a way to mask these issues. And Brandon Aiyuk is one of the most curious cases I can recall of a player holding in or holding out whatever you'd like to call it. Had trade offers on the table. He seems uncertain about where he wants to go, so he's just sort of hanging around. I think the more important issue, though, Haley, is Trent Williams. He's in his 30s. He's a left tackle. He doesn't play a skill position. I would argue he's the most important person on that football team, and that includes Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey. So they need him more than they need Brandon Aiyuk right now. And I'm not sure which player signs first. They have the cap space to get both done. So that also makes it curious. But if Brandon Aiyuk is not going to be willing to take a trade to the Steelers, I don't know what we're waiting for with that. He's not getting Justin Jefferson money. He's not getting CeeDee lamb money. I think they have an idea of where they need to sign him. The bigger issue for me is getting Trent Williams out there in week one, because we saw last year when he didn't play because of injury. Christian McCaffrey's yards per game suffered. So that's the primary concern for me. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if the Aiyuk deal gets done sooner, but again, what's taking so long for both? I have no idea when it comes to Brandon Aiyuk, are you feeling as though his best fit is still getting something done in San Francisco? Because, you know, as we talked about, there were a couple of trade options still available with the Steelers and the Browns. Is that the best fit here? I'm just trying to think of all the scenarios at this point because again, like we're just about a week ahead of the season and people got to know where this guy is lining up. So is there a better fit for him somewhere else or should he stay home? Well, several weeks ago, Haley, there were reports that the Patriots who were very interested in Aiyuk were willing to give him 32 million a year. I don't know if the 40 Niners are willing to do that. So if you're not looking for the highest pay day you can get, it makes sense to me to take whatever the 40 Niners are offering if it's competitive, because you have Brock Purdy, you have Christian McCaffrey, you have Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and you have Kyle Shanahan putting you in position to have success. You can go to Pittsburgh, but you don't know what that quarterback situation is going to be. Cleveland was on the table. You don't know what that quarterback situation is going to be. So again it's curious to me that this is taking so long to get done. If they're arguing over a few dollars or if it's something else, but it seems to me if you want to put yourself in position to have the best chance at a super Bowl, San Francisco is where you where you should stay. We'll find out together. If that happens. The season is a week and a half away, a week away, and we still have no real resolution on either player. Listen, we'll all just find out together. Like you said, the Niners will host the Jets in week one. Who are ironically dealing with a holdout of their own with Hassan Redick. We won't get into that at this moment. Instead, we're going to pivot and talk about the Bengals who will face the Patriots in week one as we discussed. And they will do it hopefully with Jamaar Chase on the field. You know he's also one of those guys we haven't really talked a lot about in terms of his contract negotiations and what he deserves versus what he's going to get paid. It's interesting, though, Ryan, because he was not practicing today, though, even though head coach Zac Taylor said that he'd be a full participant all week. So were you smelling some trouble in Cincy now that some of the dollars are starting to fall for guys like CeeDee lamb? So great news a few days ago, Ja'Marr Chase is returning to practice. Zach Taylor, the head coach, says he's going to practice. And then today, no, no practicing from Jamar. He showed up ten minutes late to practice in street clothes. I don't know if that's a huge concern. And the Bengals have said they're they're trying to work through negotiations. And the other thing to keep in mind, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee lamb, Brandon Aiyuk, all in the same draft class, the subsequent draft class, the one that came after that is the class that Jamaar Chase is in. So he still has two years left on his deal. That said, the Bengals are trying to work through it. They understand that he wants to get paid and he deserves to get paid, and he's probably going to get north of whatever Brandon Aiyuk gets and closer to CeeDee lamb money, maybe Justin Jefferson money. But I think they're still working through the details of that, Joe Burrow has said it only takes a practice or two to get on the same page with Jamar, so he's not worried. They obviously played together at LSU and they've had a ton of success in Cincinnati, so it sounds like they're going to try to get a deal done before the start of the season. But again, the clock is ticking. And I guess the real question becomes who's first? Jamar Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams because all three of those guys are incredibly important to their team's success, we're just sitting here in wait and see mode, Haley, to see how this plays out. They're just giving us stuff to talk about as we count down to the NFL. They're just trying to make sure we've got some content here on CBS sports HQ. Ryan Wilson joining us to talk all things NFL headlines. As the first week of the season is right around the corner. As we've just discussed, our season begins right here on CBS September 8th with a