Kenny Pickett has been the man of the off-season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. From being drafted in the first round, up to his performance in OTAs and minicamp, everyone is keeping a close eye on the development of Pickett. Add in the fact there hasn't really been anything team-related in the news since the extension of Minkah Fitzpatrick and the signing of Larry Ogunjobi, and that just puts more attention on Pickett and his progression. Especially during training camp and preseason, a time when we'll finally get an idea on whether Pickett will be playing early on in the season.
There has been one report however that has made its way across Steeler Nation and that is the news of Kenny Pickett taking reps with the third team. Although OTAs and minicamp were over a few weeks ago, the situation has alarmed a lot of Steelers fans recently. So I’m here to set the record straight and offer my perspective on the whole situation.
First things first Steeler Nation, R-E-L-A-X. Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers said it best. Just take a deep breath and calm down. It is not the end of the road for Pickett, nor does it mean he’s a bust. Pickett not getting reps with the first team doesn’t mean anything to what the season holds and if anything, this is actually a good thing.
Mike Tomlin will not just hand him the keys to the starting job, rather they will make him earn it, which is the best way to go about it. As a matter of fact, Pickett prefers to go this route as well. In an interview after OTAs, he expressed that he wanted to “earn everything I get.” That’s the type of mentality you want out of your rookie QB and Pickett has shown he's not backing down from the challenge of beating out Mitch Trubisky.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett. (Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)
A huge mistake Pittsburgh could make is rushing Pickett from the start. So many times, we see teams thrust their rookie QBs into the starting role in Week 1 and it does not really pan out for the player and the team. Pittsburgh needs to make sure they avoid that situation and patiently wait for the right time to start Pickett. They got a more than capable QB in Trubisky to handle the load and frankly, there’s a chance he plays the entire year. Again, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The more Pickett sits behind Trubisky and learns, the better for both the player and the team.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky. (Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers)
You may be confused as to why I’m going this route with Pickett after I wrote about how Pittsburgh should start Pickett Week 1 a couple of weeks ago. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe waiting on starting Pickett is the smart thing to do. Pittsburgh has a tough schedule to start the season and should slowly bring him in. Going up against Cincinnati and New England in your first two games is no easy feat, so just throwing Pickett into the wild against those two teams might be bad for him in the long term.
Overall, I wouldn’t put too much into Pickett working with the third stringers. Ultimately, I have faith that Tomlin will make the right decision and start Pickett when he’s ready.
Are you worried about the recent developments surrounding Kenny Pickett? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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