Drafting quarterback Kenny Pickett was destiny for Pickett and the Pittsburgh Steelers. A local hero from the University of Pittsburgh just happens to be in the draft the offseason when Ben Roethlisberger retires and he is still on the board when the Steelers picked at No. 20 overall in 2022.
Pickett wasted no time taking over the starting job last season. After coming in to replace Mitch Trubisky, he stumbled out of the gates. As expected, Pickett looked very much like a rookie. But after the bye week, things got better. Maybe not necessarily because Pickett got better but he played cleaner football and the team started winning. The team nearly made the playoffs.
So coming into this season, hopes were high. Pickett played sparingly in the preseason but he was perfect, going five for five on drives with five touchdowns.
But here we sit, five games into the 2023 season and Pickett looks lost. As much as fans want to blame all of this on offensive coordinator Matt Canada, you can’t ignore Pickett’s struggles.
So how are we feeling about Pickett? Do we still believe? Right now the answer is yes. The team is 3-2 and leading the AFC North and on the bye week. As poorly as Pickett has played, we will reserve judgment until the team comes back off the bye week and see how he performs against the Atlanta Falcons. If he continues to stumble, it will be hard to justify keeping Pickett on the field, especially with the defense playing so well.
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