Mike Tomlin: Russell Wilson is in the pole position at quarterback

There's a long way to go until the Steelers take the field in Week One and Russell Wilson will be starting that march with the inside track on the starting quarterback job.

That was the prevailing thought since the Steelers signed him following his release by the Broncos and it did not change once the Steelers completed a trade with the Bears to acquire Justin Fields this month. Confirmation of the state of affairs came from head coach Mike Tomlin at the league meetings on Sunday.

Tomlin said that Wilson is in the "pole position" and that the team has been "transparent in the pecking order" when it comes to letting Fields know that he'll have a chance to compete when they feel it is the right time.

"[Wilson's] just got a lot of experience in terms of what it takes to be the guy over the course of a 12-month calendar and I just think that that's something that a younger guy like Justin could learn from," Tomlin said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.

Wilson will get the chance to play better than he did in Denver the last two seasons. If he can't, his edge in March probably won't mean much to a Steelers team that's trying to win a playoff game for the first time since 2017.