Initially, Justin Fields wasn’t in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ plans. But now that he is, Mike Tomlin is like a kid on Christmas.

Tomlin and the Steelers have the rare opportunity to mold a young athlete who’s had the “franchise quarterback” label. Fields is eager to succeed in Pittsburgh where he couldn’t with the Chicago Bears.

“He oozes talent and potential,” Tomlin told reporters at the NFL Annual League Meeting. “He’s worn the responsibility of being the franchise quarterback and still gets an opportunity to learn from a guy that’s been doing it for over a decade. There’s a lot of meat left on the bone and I’m excited about working on extracting it.”

Can Tomlin extract something from Fields that the Bears couldn’t? That’s undetermined, but Fields is in a perfect situation to make that happen.

Fields will head into offseason training behind starter Russell Wilson, but as we know in this league, anything can happen on any given Sunday (or Monday or Thursday).

Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire