After four straight days of practice the Pittsburgh Steelers will have a day to sit back and relax before the REAL work begins. Things will get real on Monday when the team straps on the pads for the first time since last season. It will be the first-time live contact will happen and with that will come the ability to gauge whether the offensive line has made any improvements. And while the quarterbacks still won't be taking hits, it will provide them their first chance to drop back to pass with a true live pocket situation.
Kenny Pickett speaks with offensive cordinator Matt Canada during training camp 2022 (Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation JSKO_PHOTO)
It's no secret that through the first week of camp the Steelers quarterbacks as a whole have struggled mightily. Mitchell Trubisky has looked inaccurate at times, Mason Rudolph has turned the ball over in team situations, and rookie Kenny Pickett has looked rough.
It's been so bad that thoughts of Rudolph winning the starting job have started to creep across every news outlet from local to national. Rudolph has the clear advantage of knowing the offense. While that fact was mostly overlooked throughout the offseason it has proven to be true thus far.
But the thing that seems to be on everyones mind is Pickett. A week ago at this time many believed he would end up winning the starting position by week 1. Lots believed that the Steelers would soon be bidding Rudolph a good bye and Pickett would be moving up the depth chart. That all seems like a distant memory for the time being.
Steelers Kenny Pickett takes a mock snap during training camp 2022 (Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation JSKO_PHOTO)
On Sunday the Steelers official website posted a video recap of the first week of camp. The video presented by FedEx was posted to the teams YouTube channel. Pittsburgh media legend Bob Pompeani, and former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch hosted the show. At one point they caught up with Steelers insider Gerry Dulac, and KDKA reporter Richie Walsh.
While talking about the quarterback situation Walsh asked Dulac his thoughts on Pickett.
"You know, Rich, you know it's actually kinda been a rough go for him [Kenny Pickett]," Dulac continued. "I mean he hasn't looked good, but nobody should read anything into that. The Steelers certainly aren't. You know let's be fair, Kenny Pickett is playing with the third team, and fourth team guys. Mitch Trubisky is playing with all of the starters. It might be a different story if he got to work with the first team."
Jordan Schofield / Steeler Nation (JSKO_PHOTO TWITTER)
Dulac is right, Pickett has only worked with the third and fourth team. But does that even matter when it comes to football in shorts? We have seen a few times that Pickett has had to scramble for his life even with the team portions of practice not being completely live. When he's been able to get outside of the pocket, he's looked his best. That doesn't sound like it's surprising to any of Pickett's coaches according to Dulac.
"But I had a chance to talk to Mike Sullivan, the quarterbacks coach the other day, and he was saying he's really, really, impressed not only with Kenny Pickett's mobility, but his ability to throw on the run. That's not always the case with quarterbacks, they start moving outside the pocket and their mechanics break down. And that doesn't happen with Kenny Pickett. It's the thing that's impressed him the most about Pickett during training camp."
Let's hope that next week at this time that the conversation has turned to how well Pickett is doing, and he should be getting first team reps.
