Seven months ago, even before he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Justin Fields made the conscious decision to tweak his mechanics. He wanted to revert to the foot placement that worked so well for him at Ohio State. The foot placement that helped him to throw for 5,373 yards and 63 touchdowns to just nine interceptions while leading the Buckeyes to a 20-2 record and to back-to-back college football playoff appearances for the first time in school history.
In Fields’ second season with the Chicago Bears, head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy opted to reverse Fields’ footwork. The switch had Fields starting with his left foot forward in shotgun, which is not his natural base.
While his stats did improve in what would be his final two seasons over his rookie year, Fields was often criticized for his decision-making and processing speed.
Fields’ trainer, Oliver Bozeman, believes the minor adjustment will quicken his thought process as he drops back to pass.
“A lot of people don’t understand how quick and how fast the game moves,” Bozeman told ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “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.”
Bozeman observed that Fields was doing exactly that — hesitating in the pocket because he was out of his comfort zone with foot placement.
“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.”
Fields worked tirelessly this winter and spring with Bozeman, a self-proclaimed “footwork guy.”
According to Pryor, Fields’ sessions with Bozeman began with 30 minutes of footwork, first a warmup on the ladder, followed by other drills.
“Before we even started throwing, we did footwork,” Bozeman said. “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.”
By the time OTAs and minicamp rolled around, Fields was more confident after returning to his natural base. The Steelers coaching staff approved the change, making Fields’ transition to a new team and new offense easier.
“When I got here, the biggest thing was be on time and be accurate,” Fields told Pryor.”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.”
While Russell Wilson has always remained in the “pole position” — as Mike Tomlin likes to say — Fields paid no mind to the presumed depth chart. He’s putting his best (right) foot forward as he works to revive his NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
