Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Kenny Pickett will always be linked together with Ben Roethlisberger. The team drafted him to someday fill the shoes of the two-time Super Bowl winner and the two have a similar story of how their rookie seasons unfolded.
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Spencer T'eo and Ben Roethlisberger host much-anticipated guest Kenny Pickett on the Footbahlin podcast.
Roethlisberger was drafted by the organization to be the franchise quarterback the team hadn't had since Terry Bradshaw hung up the cleats. The Steelers' plans of letting Roethlisberger take his time were dashed, and pretty quickly he was driving Head Coach Bill Cowher crazy.
"I had great veteran guys that helped me, Tommy Maddox, Charlie Batch, Brian St Pierre was here," he said. "I thought it was huge because I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I was just out there trying to make things happen. To have those guys who were able to put their egos aside and help me."
Maddox had started the first game of the season and then would've probably come back if it hadn't been for the fact that the team didn't lose a game according to Roethlisberger. He appreciated that the veteran starter was able to put his team's needs in front of his own.
For Pickett, the process was a little different, but not dissimilar. Trubisky started the first four weeks before giving way to Pickett due to poor performance. Despite losing his job to Pickett, the young quarterback said the former Chicago Bears starter has been a great resource.
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Steelers' Kenny Pickett joined the Footbahlin podcast to talk about stepping into the shoes of Ben Roethlisberger and lots more football talk.
"He's been like an extra coach for me," Pickett said. "Being in the league for as long as he has been and being able to ask him questions. 'What's your experience with this concept? Do you like it?' He knows other teams and has been around these defensive coordinators a decent amount of times. Mason [Rudolph] as well. Just having two guys that have been in it. I'm extremely grateful for the quarterback room we have."
Steelers Quarterback Talks About 2 Different Unique Transitions
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Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger trying to calm things down.
When Roethlisberger arrived in 2004, he said everything he was hearing was about how he was going to fill the shoes of Bradshaw. He said it felt ridiculous with the number of signal-callers in between them and wondered how Pickett feels about having to jump into things the year after Ben stepped away.
"You were in year 17 and I feel like you're almost a coach, it's your system and you're kind of running the show," Pickett said about Roethlisberger. "For me, we're going back to ABCs and I have to learn everything from the start. So, I think it was for myself adjusting to the NFL and the guys around me adjusting to not being with you. I had to try to speed that learning process as fast as I could."
Even though Pickett is the Steelers' unquestioned starter going forward in 2022, show co-host Spencer T'eo wondered if it was tough to go in and come out due to injury and have to watch Trubisky jump back in. Pickett said Head Coach Mike Tomlin always made that easy.
"Coach T does a really good job at communicating and we all knew where we were at at that point," Pickett said. "Once he gives the orders, you're just going until you hear something else and that changes. There's no guessing, he just says it like it is."
As Pickett moves into his second year having those resources in the quarterback room, it's obviously important for the organization. Now, like the veterans that helped Roethlisberger, Rudolph and Trubisky need to give Pickett all the support he needs and check their egos at the door.
Do you think the quarterback room sets Pickett up well to fill Roethlisberger's shoes? Comment below!
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