Category: Kenny Pickett

Steelers CB Patrick Peterson: Kenny Pickett will ‘reap the fruits’ of Arthur Smith

Patrick Peterson believes that Kenny Pickett will benefit from new OC Arthur Smith.

A solid run game is easily a developing quarterback’s best friend. And that’s what the Pittsburgh Steelers have in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. The two backs, who combined for 1,819 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, will also be best friends with run-loving offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

“I think Kenny Pickett will have the opportunity to really reap the fruits of this labor, having Arthur coming in there, having kind of like the same athletic attributes, a mobile quarterback, a guy who likes to throw the ball on the run, who can throw the ball on the run,” Peterson said on the Feb. 15 episode of All Things Covered.

“But also having a running back and a running committee that’s able to make his game a little bit easier. I’m excited about the hire.”

We only need to look to All-Pro Derrick Henry and two career-best seasons in Tennessee under Smith. In 2019 and 2020, Henry put up a whopping 3,567 yards and 33 touchdowns. There’s no reason to think Harris and Warren combined can’t come close to that in the first two seasons of Smith calling the plays.

Just a fraction of that should increase the chances of success for Pickett, who will undoubtedly be under tremendous pressure to perform at the level of a first-round draftee heading into his third season.

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Steelers 2024 offseason roster – Offensive tackles

Here are the offensive tackles on the Steelers roster heading into free agency.

The Pittsburgh Steelers already released former starting right offensive tackle Chuks Okorafor and we are still several weeks from the official start of free agency. Here are the remaining offensive tackles on the roster.

Could the Steelers go back to the 2022 NFL draft for their new QB?

The Steelers could be in the market for a new quarterback this offseason.

Back in 2022, the Pittsburgh Steelers used their first-round pick to select quarterback Kenny Pickett. Pickett was the only quarterback selected in the first round and here we are in 2024 already wondering if Pickett should be replaced.

The only question is where that potential replacement might come from. We’ve speculated about the 2024 NFL draft, free agency or even a trade. The folks over at The Draft Network speculated a few trades for the Steelers and ironically, they decided to go back to the 2022 NFL draft for a pair of quarterbacks.

They offered up Washington Commanders Sam Howell and Tennessee Titans Malik Willis as two possible replacements for Pickett. Both guys were also selected in the 2022 NFL draft and for many fans were the quarterbacks they wanted instead of Pickett. I admit I was a big fan of Willis and he’s honestly turned out to be a huge bust as he has struggled to catch on to the NFL game.

Howell, on the other hand, had some very strong moments last season. He threw for 3,946 yards. Howell led the league in interceptions and in times sacks, which had more to do with how awful his offensive line was. With a new coaching staff in place, they might be looking to move on from Howell and a fresh start might be just what he needs.

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Aditi Kinkhabwala: ‘Mismanagement’ of Kenny Pickett falls on Mike Tomlin

Mike Tomlin mismanaged Kenny Pickett from the start and now the Steelers are paying for it.

Kenny Pickett came into the NFL in an impossible situation. The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback was forced to work with offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who had zero experience in the pros before being promoted to the role one year prior.

So, a guy with no NFL experience took direction from a guy with only one more year than he had. Not ideal.

Pickett could only do what he needed — prepare for his rookie season as if he were the starter. Only Tomlin made that task a difficult one, butchering the quarterback plan from day one. It was his first foray into looking for a starting quarterback, and it showed. The “competition” that ensued heading into training camp was a sham. It was always Mitch Trubisky‘s job to lose, depriving Pickett of valuable reps and giving him no opportunity to build rapport with his receivers or offensive line.

Three weeks into his rookie season, Pickett was thrown to the wolves and expected to lead the team without any real offseason experience.

If Tomlin had given the reins to Pickett the moment he was drafted, we could be seeing a different result. Instead, he mismanaged the situation from the get-go and did so with a coordinator unworthy of his job.

“When you talk about personnel and mismanagement of personnel and development of personnel, that is also on the head coach,” CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala said on former Steeler guard Trai Essex’s podcast “Pod Me Up.”

“You can sit here and say look at what he did with these players and certain things, but you can also say Matt Canada is at his feet. And entrusting a young quarterback to an offensive coordinator who had no experience and one could argue no standing to be an offensive coordinator in the National Football League, well ok, so chicken or egg?”

Tomlin made his bed. Now he has to lie in it. But not for long.

He has a daunting task ahead — the most critical hire in his 17 years with the team — find a high-caliber offensive coordinator who can attempt to mold Pickett into the quarterback they thought he could be as a first-round draft pick.

Hopefully, it’s not too late.

https://www.youtube.com/live/Vpi_fptFmSM?si=uSbL3vqxysJYssd6

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Mike Tomlin confirms Kenny Pickett will regain QB1 role with one caveat

Mike Tomlin confirms Kenny Pickett will regain his QB1 role but that it’ll be a competition this offseason.

As in the seasons since Ben Roethlisberger retired, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in a quarterback quandary. But one thing is certain: Kenny Pickett will regain his role as QB1.

It comes with an asterisk, though. Mike Tomlin said in his season-wrap press conference that there will be a quarterback competition.

“He will be challenged,” he said.

We’re months away from seeing who, besides Pickett, will be in that competition. It’s also unknown how serious Tomlin is about the process. He said there was a competition during Pickett’s rookie season but there never truly was — it was Mitch Trubisky’s job to lose.

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Steelers QB and captain Kenny Pickett skips out on media availability

The Steelers left Kenny Pickett on the bench down the stretch.

Just a day out from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season coming to a disappointing end, players were back in the locker room for clean-out day. This is also a day when the players provide one last round of media availability. According to Steelers beat reporter Ray Fittipaldo, quarterback Kenny Pickett was not among those players in the lockers and therefore didn’t speak to the press.

Pickett suffered an ankle injury late in the season, and despite getting tightrope surgery on his ankle to expedite his recovery, never got his starting job back. The team turned to Mason Rudolph and went on a winning streak at the end of the year to make the playoffs, which couldn’t have sat well with the former first-round pick.

Sorting out the quarterback position is going to be a top priority for head coach Mike Tomlin this offseason. Pickett is heading into his third season and will have a new offensive coordinator. At the same time, Rudolph is headed to free agency, and it is unclear whether he will return.

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Could Kenny Pickett come off the bench for Steelers in wild-card game vs. Bills?

Mike Tomlin handed the keys of the Steelers offense to third-string QB Mason Rudolph on Dec. 23 and hasn’t looked back.

Mike Tomlin handed the keys of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense to third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph on Dec. 23 and hasn’t looked back. It’s worked out well, but what if it suddenly doesn’t?

What if things go south for Pittsburgh in their first playoff appearance in two years? Could Tomlin look to first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett?

“Absolutely not,” Mark Kaboly, Steelers insider for The Athletic, wrote in his recent mailbag. “Tomlin doesn’t approach his quarterbacks like that, regardless of this being a sudden-death game. It’s Rudolph’s game from start to finish. Plus, do you want Pickett, who hasn’t played in more than two months, to come in cold off the bench? I wouldn’t.”

Kaboly was wrong about when Pickett last played — his last game was Dec. 3 versus the Arizona Cardinals — but he’s not wrong about Tomlin’s approach.

“We value routine things happening routinely” and “We’re not reactionary” are two statements Tomlin recycles on a regular basis.

There’s no scenario where Pickett sees the field in Buffalo. The routine that the Steelers are knee-deep in with Rudolph won’t cause the team to react should he turn the ball over on Sunday. At this point, the Steelers are Rudolph’s, and nothing will change that.

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Steelers QB Kenny Pickett fires back at rumors

Kenny Pickett said he did not refuse to be the backup last week against the Seattle Seahawks.

A rumor came up on Monday that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was a healthy scratch last week against the Seattle Seahawks because he refused to be backup to Mason Rudolph. Pickett took his opportunity at his media availability on Tuesday to clear the air and tell his side of the story.

According to Pickett, if he had been healthy enough to play, he would start, but the trainers decided he wasn’t healthy enough to go.

“There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two,” Pickett said. “If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I looked good enough to play, I was going to start and play if they believed that I was not, which they believed I was not, was not going to dress and suit up for the game.”

Then Pickett took the “blame the media” route to directly address the rumor.

“So whoever reported that I dunno where it started, it’s kind of crazy what people will write and put out there to try to prove their point or help their standpoint or their careers and what you guys do. But disappointed to see that without any proof or basis of it.”

Pickett followed that up with the news that he is going to be the No. 2 quarterback this week against the Baltimore Ravens.

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Mark Madden: Kenny Pickett ‘refused’ to back up Mason Rudolph vs. Seahawks

Mark Madden just opened a whole can of worms that will certainly cause a distraction as the Steelers prepare for the 2023 season finale vs. Ravens.

There’s trouble brewing in the quarterback room of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is, if you believe Pittsburgh media personality Mark Madden.

Madden posted on X this afternoon that he “just got told [Kenny] Pickett 100 percent refused to be the backup” to Mason Rudolph in the Steelers’ game against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17

That makes sense as to why Pickett was inactive, leaving Mitch Trubisky as Mason Rudolph‘s backup in the Steelers’ win over Seattle.

Adding to the intrigue, Madden said the Steelers writers know that Pickett refused but won’t write about it.

In an appearance on The Fan Morning Show today, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly intimated the same thing.

“I’m very, very highly skeptical that it was 100 percent Mike Tomlin’s decision that Kenny Pickett did not dress yesterday,” Kaboly said.

Kaboly said if he knew without question that Pickett refused to back up Rudolph, it would’ve been “on The Athletic website right now.”

“There are some things you know and some things you can write, and there are some things you know you can’t write,” he said.

If what Madden stated is true, Pickett needs to take a good, hard look at himself. He’s not earned the right to have this entitled stance, nor has he earned the right to step back in as a starter over Rudolph — who’s played the best ball of his career.

Madden just opened a whole can of worms that will certainly cause a distraction as the Steelers prepare for the regular-season finale with a playoff berth at stake.

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