When the Pittsburgh Steelers spent a first-round pick on quarterback Kenny Pickett, we were all cautiously optimistic that the Steelers saw something we didn’t. But fast forward to the 2024 offseason and Pittsburgh has moved on after just two years, trading Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles.
But the trade was not to make room for new quarterback Russell Wilson. Not at all. The Steelers were willing to keep Pickett as Wilson’s backup and give him an opportunity to learn behind a future Hall of Famer. Something he never got in his previous two seasons.
But that didn’t work out as it was reported that Pickett didn’t handle the news well and wanted to be traded. Rich Eisen talked about the situation Pickett put himself in and didn’t hold back about what he thought was a mistake by Pickett.
“You are going to get a first crack at a starter job and then the kid who was there, Kenny Pickett, made himself a hostage,” Eisen said. “They then volunteered to send him to Philly.”
Pickett’s situation only went from bad to worse if he was looking for a chance to start. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is entrenched as the franchise quarterback and isn’t going anywhere. Had Pickett stayed with the Steelers, he could have been looking at another chance to start as early as 2025. Once Pickett was traded away, the Steelers made another move to trade for former Justin Fields quarterback Justin Fields.
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