While the Pittsburgh Steelers did not wait to draft the successor to future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, bringing in Kenny Pickett in the first round the same offseason in which the 18-year veteran retired, they didn’t intend for the next ‘era’ to begin immediately.
Not knowing if they would even have the opportunity to land Pickett in the draft, they signed Mitch Trubisky in free agency as a player they hoped would serve as an effective bridge to their next franchise player, and maybe even more than that.
Even though they moved on to the rookie by game four, it’s fair to say the Pickett era is really beginning now, then, in the first season with him as the intended starter and working as such. Indeed, his work ethic has not only been very noticeable but also contagious. It’s got his teammates, including veteran wide receiver Diontae Johnson, excited to see what he can do.
Telling Bo Marchionte of college2pro.com that he believes Pickett is “just as smart” of a quarterback as Roethlisberger, his emphasis was on his drive, saying he’s “got the heart. He’s a good football player. He’s never going to give up. He is always going to try to be the best at throwing or reading. Whatever it is he will work his ass off to be the best at it”.
He’s going to have to have a big ass this offseason because he’s got a lot of ground to cover in order to be the best. Not necessarily because of where he is but where the level of competition is. We are in a golden age of quarterbacks, at least at the top, with the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Herbert—all, mind you, in the AFC, some in the North.
And that’s not even mentioning Aaron Rodgers now with the New York Jets. And it might be time to start worrying about Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville, who managed to make the Jaguars a playoff team again with a tremendous second-half surge last year.
One thing that has been consistent throughout this offseason whenever talking about Pickett, however, has simply been the immense investment he has made in being the best. At everything. At his craft. At being a teammate. At being a leader.
Above all else, he seems to understand what it means to be the face of a franchise. That’s not just for the public. That’s for your teammates, your coaches, the cafeteria workers. Kenny Pickett is the Steelers now. He’s saying and doing all the right things, but it’s still June.
We can be reasonably sure that his performance and especially his numbers will be significantly better this year, for many reasons. Just how significant that improvement will be, it’s hard to predict. Will we be talking about him in lists of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league at this time next year? I certainly hope so. But I’m confident he won’t stop putting in every effort to get there—not even once he is there. Because the work is half of the requirement to be at that level in the first place.
