Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: QB Kenny Pickett
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The second-year quarterback’s coaches and teammates have offered unanimously glowing reviews this offseason. While we haven’t been given a ton to work with in terms of, you know, how he’s actually performed in practice, his control of the practice itself as the leader of the team has been remarked upon several times.
All of the talk about how much of a leader and energy bringer Kenny Pickett has become this offseason only has me all the more eager to get a good look at him in July and August. The only eyes that have been on him so far are those of the media.
You can’t hide from open practices during training camp, however, and the preseason games are there for all to see. While it’s great to have heard glowing reviews about how Pickett has blossomed as a future captain, what we really need to see is how the ball comes out of hand and what leads up to it.
A cynic might argue that the scarcity of actual practice accounts about Pickett’s performance are an indicator that he hasn’t been doing particularly well, or at least not really doing anything notable. About all we’ve heard was him being intercepted by inside linebacker Mark Robinson early on.
But it’s impossible to know what that means out of context. Were they trying something out? Was it a great play by Robinson? Was it just a bad rep? Of course, it’s not the media’s fault, in this case. The Steelers don’t let anything come out from closed practices unless approved.
The reality is that all we have to go on right now is what has been said about Pickett, and at least on that front we can be confident that he has the backing of his team and his coaches. Believing in your quarterback is a pretty big deal and shouldn’t be taken lightly by any stretch of the imagination.
The goal this offseason is to build rapport with his targets, something he didn’t have much of a chance to do as a rookie often working with the third-string offense. Now he’s the man, and he’ll get all the reps he wants with whoever he wants—including during downtime. He’s organized multiple informal practices with teammates already this offseason and I’m sure there will be more. This is a young man invested in the team’s success and the part he has to play in it.
