Ever have it where you pop up in the middle of the night after being sound asleep, awakened by a nightmare that scared you back into consciousness?
Chances are, you have had an experience or two like that in the past, and those experiences aren’t pleasant to say the least. Well, those same fears and experiences can be the thing that keeps NFL executives and coaches up at night, internalizing a “nightmare” scenario for their own squads that could result in their jobs being put at risk.
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report recently undertook this process for every NFL team, publishing a piece describing the nightmare 2023 season for each franchise in one sentence or less. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Gagnon pointed to QB Kenny Pickett making a second-year leap in 2023 being the key to Pittsburgh’s success or failure this fall.
“Kenny Pickett fails to improve significantly on a weak rookie season, but Mike Tomlin and a strong defense cause them to win just enough games to leave them without a primo draft pick in 2024,” Gagnon wrote.
Many football analysts as well as former and current players have been calling for Pickett to show a notable jump in his performance on the field from Year 1 to Year 2, vastly improving his statical output as well as his recognition and poise on the football field after being thrown into the fire as a rookie. HC Mike Tomlin has stated that he expects Pickett to kill it this coming season, saying this isn’t Pickett’s first time around the track and that he knows what to expect.
Pickett showed improvement down the stretch last season and Pittsburgh has added help both along the offensive line as well as in the receiving corps this offseason, setting Pickett up to succeed in his sophomore season. Still, Pickett needs to actually make the jump, showing notable improvement from a season ago when his yards-per-attempt numbers were low as well as throwing for more INTs than TDs on the season.
The Steelers were in prime position for a top-five draft pick last year before their bye week, but they went on a 7-2 run and just missed out on the playoffs. Many Steelers fans, including myself, are happy with how things turned out, seeing glimpses of what this team can be going forward. However, if Pickett does indeed struggle and fails to show us that he can be that franchise QB, a similar result of rallying to finish the year near .500 would be a tough pill to swallow.
With premier QB prospects like Caleb Williams and Drake Maye in next year’s draft, it would be hard to see Pickett and the offense struggle yet again next season while the defense does just enough to keep this team relevant. While the Steelers crave consistency and always being competitive, that can limit you from landing a top-tier prospect like Williams should Pickett show us he can’t be the guy after two seasons.
Here’s hoping this is not the case and that Pickett does indeed kill it in 2023. However, if we were to map out a nightmare scenario for Pittsburgh this coming season, the lack of development and progress by Pickett and another mediocre year would fit that description.
