The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers selected a quarterback in the first round of an NFL Draft, he wasn't the starter for Week 1. It took a training camp injury from #2 quarterback Charlie Batch, and an in-game injury to Tommy Maddox before Ben Roethlisberger could get onto the field. But when Roethlisberger did get onto the field, he was ready. From that point on, the job was his and only father time was able to beat him out.
MIAMI - JANUARY 03: Quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger #7, Charlie Batch #16 and Dennis Dixon #2 of the Pittsburgh Steelers talk on the sidelines while taking on the Miami Dolphins at Land Shark Stadium on January 3, 2010 in Miami, Florida. The Steelers defeated the Dolphins 30-24. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)
Now the Steelers must turn their attention to their latest first round selection, Kenny Pickett. A lot of talk has been about whether or not Pickett can start out of training camp. He has to beat an unknown in Mitch Trubisky, and an underwhelming Mason Rudolph. The Steelers know what Rudolph can offer, and it isn't much at the NFL level. Trubisky is the wild card, because he's a former #2 overall selection, and is coming off a season in which he sat behind Josh Allen in Buffalo and tried to re-tool his career.
As mentioned above, Batch played for the Steelers when Roethlisberger was groomed. He's now a radio personality in Pittsburgh and co-hosts the Steelers post-game show after every game with the great Stan Savran. He joined NFL Network today with host Andrew Siciliano to talk about Pickett and what to expect out of the rookie.
Batch was asked about whether a lot can be learned in rookie minicamp.
"Yeah, they throw a lot at you at rookie minicamp," Batch said. "They just want to see how much of the playbook that you can absorb. And if he can do that, that will give them indications heading into that first OTA practice to say, 'hey, this guy could potentially be ready to now fight for that number two spot if not the starter reps.' So it's going to be interesting to see how much he picks up over the weekend, get a chance next week to absorb, let it all kind of soak in. And then ultimately when they prepare in about a week and a half for that first OTA practice, the reps will indicate what the thought process of this organization is thinking moving forward."
So, according to Batch, Pickett will need to pick up on the playbook rather quickly if he wants to have a chance at any meaningful reps at OTA's towards the end of the month. That is the only disadvantage that Pickett has over Trubisky and Rudolph. Rudolph has been in the system since offensive coordinator Matt Canada took over, and Trubisky has had the playbook since March.
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"Anytime you take a quarterback in the first round, you want to try to accelerate that learning curve. And all I can do is go back to when Ben Roethlisberger was a rookie in 2004. Bill Cowher and his coaching staff at that point, they did a really good job of trying to accelerate the learning curve. Didn't expect him to play as early as he did. But then injuries to myself, and Tommy Maddox that flushed him into the starting line up at Week 3. Now it's just going to be interesting to see all of these years later.If Kenny Pickett can now pick this offense up, I expect him to play early in the season."
Batch would go on to say that if Trubisky is named the starter and doesn't get off to an '3-1, or 4-0' start, that the noise will start coming from the fans and media to replace him.
"It's a very tough situation to be in because if, you know, if he doesn't play well and get this team off to a 3-1, 4-0 start, everybody's going to be clamoring from behind and saying, 'okay, is this the time that you put Kenny Pickett in?' So he now has a lot of tough shoes to fill. He just has to go out there and not worry about all the other things that he cannot control, learn the offense. They signed him as a starter in anticipation of him being there at Week 1. So he just has to go out there and play the kind of football that he's accustomed to playing."
