PFF grades: Steelers' Justin Fields starting faster than Ben Roethlisberger in his final six seasons

Adam Bittner / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Each week, the Post-Gazette will recap the most interesting Steelers player grades released by Pro Football Focus, the scouting website that evaluates players’ performance on every play of every game. For context, players are graded on a 0-100 scale.

Justin Fields (78.1 overall passing grade) – While the discourse around the 25-year-old QB remains polarized, the data is not. It sees Fields as having the best four-week stretch to open a season by a Steelers quarterback since 2015, when Ben Roethlisberger was the No. 1 rated QB in the NFL by PFF metrics. In no subsequent season did Roethlisberger have a higher adjusted completion percentage, which factors out drops, than Fields’ 82.0. In no subsequent season did he have fewer than Fields’ one turnover-worthy play. In 2016, he had eight, then six in 2017, nine in 2018, three in injury-shortened 2019, two in 2020 and eight in 2021. And only twice — in 2016 and 2018 — did he have more than Fields’ six big-time throws, graded as among the best in the NFL in a given week. Granted, Roethlisberger was better at getting the ball downfield consistently. He had a higher average depth of target than Fields’ 6.7 yards in each of his final six NFL seasons. But that aggression came at the cost of more turnovers and less accuracy, which dragged Roethlisberger’s grade below Fields’ in each of the four-week spans studied. And in case you’re wondering, no, Fields’ metrics are not propped up by his efforts in the running game. Roethlisberger was actually a higher-rated runner in 2016-18, before his 2019 arm injury. Fields is grading better on the merits of his work in the passing game, a fact that’s hard to ignore as fans and pundits debate whether he should keep the starting job over Russell Wilson.

Patrick Queen (41.1 overall grade) – As always, we need to add the caveat here that PFF has generally been unkind to Steelers middle linebackers in the team’s uncommon 3-4 base defense for reasons that often seem structural. Even former Pro Bowler Ryan Shazier in his prime received mediocre marks, which implies that the grading formula favors linebackers in more common base defenses like the 4-3, in which the backers have different responsibilities. Even with that being said, Queen is in some alarming territory. Only once did the much-maligned former first-round NFL draft pick Devin Bush post a full-season grade worse than Queen’s right now. Queen’s missed tackle percentage of 21.4 is very high. He’s registered just two stops, which PFF defines as plays that result in failure for the opposing offense. And he’s been cooked in coverage, allowing 10 catches worth an average of 12.2 yards on 12 targets. Teammates Payton Wilson (66.7) and Elandon Roberts (63.6) are grading significantly higher, even amid the seemingly formulaic headwinds. This defense needs him to be better — and fast — after signing him to a major free agent contract this spring.

Zach Frazier (79.4 overall grade) – The rookie center appeared to be the one in the wrong on the critical botched snap with Fields late in the fourth quarter Sunday at Indianapolis. Big picture, though? It’s not an exaggeration to say that he’s been one of the best at his position in the NFL so far. His overall grade currently ranks fourth among centers, trailing only that of New Orleans’ Erik McCoy (95.5), Kansas City’s Creed Humphrey (93.1) and Baltimore’s Tyler Linderbaum (84.5.) PFF faults him with just four pressures allowed in pass protection, an average of just one per game. And they’ve generally been of the more minor variety, with no sacks and only two QB hits allowed. Mason Cole, by comparison, allowed an average of more than two pressures per game last season, so Frazier has essentially cut those in half in the early going. He’s also been much better in run blocking with a grade of 80.1 in that department compared to Cole’s 62.3. So don’t let one big mistake color his season. He’s been a major upgrade. The question now is whether he can keep it up over a grueling 17-week campaign.

Joey Porter Jr. (32.8 vs. Colts) – Last week, this space noted that the second-year cornerback’s analytic vitals were still solid despite some early hiccups. It’s become much harder to make that case after the Colts game. Porter now ranks 89th out of 93 cornerbacks in overall grade (48.4) with at least 100 snaps this season after getting torched for five receptions worth 81 yards on seven targets. Perhaps even worse, he misplayed two balls that should have been easy interceptions. For the season, he’s now allowed catches on 69.2% of opposing targets. That’s up sharply from 47.4% in his rookie campaign. His missed tackle percentage is also up to 20.0 compared to 12.2 as a rookie. Because we’re early in the season with a small sample size to consider, one good game could turn things around in a major way. But whatever is missing in his game better improve quickly with the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb, the Raiders’ Davante Adams and the Jets’ Garrett Wilson coming up on the schedule.