As the preseason comes to a close, the heavily anticipated QB competition between Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, and Kenny Pickett appears to be coming down to the wire. Trubisky has been the leader of the pack since signing with Pittsburgh as a UFA this spring, being named the first string QB for OTAs and mandatory minicamp. That designation followed him into the summer as the team’s QB1 for training camp as he took a bulk of the first team reps and started Pittsburgh’s last two preseason games.
However, things appear to be heating up with Pickett playing extremely well down the stretch following two strong showings in preseason play. He has displayed rapid development from where he was at the start of training camp and feels primed to seriously challenge Trubisky for the opening day starting job heading into their final preseason game against the Detroit Lions.
Still, while nothing has yet to be set in stone in terms of the Steelers naming a starting QB, Trubisky feels like his preparation since arriving to the team and his previous experience has been enough to warrant the coaching staff to roll with him as the man Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Ya, for sure,” Trubisky said to the media prior to practice Wednesday via video from Jenna Harner’s Twitter page. “I think I have. Just how I carry myself every day. What I’ve done on the practice field. Would like to do more last game obviously, but I hopefully will get another opportunity this week to show that I should be and it’s your whole body of work so everything I’ve done in my career up until this point, what I’ve done in minicamp, the practices, and Latrobe and in the preseason games. It wasn’t the best showing last week as a unit and for myself so all you can do is control today and get better from there and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Trubisky has been the picture-perfect teammate since signing with the team in March as he has invited all the skill position guys down to his home in Florida to run routes and build chemistry with one another during the offseason as well as offered to help Pickett with his development as a rookie. Still, while he has been supportive of Pickett and the other QBs in the room, he has made it known that he appreciates a fresh start in Pittsburgh and doesn’t plan to take it for granted as he competes to be the team’s starting QB.
To his credit, Trubisky does have the most starting experience of any of the QBs on the roster as he has made two playoff appearances and won 51 games during his tenure in Chicago. Still, while all of this can be true and Trubisky may be the most-seasoned veteran on the roster, the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league. Thus, given Pickett’s impressive performance thus far in his limited exposure makes him a legit candidate for the starting job.
Trubisky has a point in saying that the offense struggled last week against Jacksonville, and largely of no fault of his own as the offensive line had him running for his life. Still, it was that same OL that protected Pickett when he came in during the second quarter and led the two-minute offense down the field and capped off the drive with a TD pass to Benny Snell.
Ultimately, the NFL is a results-driven business, and that is amplified even more at the QB position. You are expected to make adverse conditions work to lead the offense and score points, and up to this point, Pickett has done just as good of a job as Trubisky, if not better. Pittsburgh’s final preseason game Sunday can go a long way in either cementing Trubisky’s status as the QB1 on the depth chart come the regular season or justifying Pickett’s case to supplant him atop the depth chart as the Pittsburgh Steelers starting QB.
