One thing that Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett has consistently been praised about is his leadership ability. Whether it’s how he commands a huddle or makes people want to work harder, Pickett’s leadership hasn’t been called into question. Add Allen Robinson II, whom Pittsburgh acquired via trade from the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, among this impressed with Pickett’s leadership ability.
As a guest on The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Tom Pelissero, Robinson talked about why he has faith in Pickett succeeding.
“The number one thing that sticks out for me, aside from his talent, is he’s a leader. When I say a leader, I mean a guy who has great command. Seeing the command he has of a team is a second-year player, it’s remarkable,” Robinson said. “You don’t see too many guys be able to take the bull by the horns how he’s able to do that and get the command of everybody. That’s meeting-wise, pre-practice, post-practice, getting throws in after. It typically takes a little bit longer for guys to go through that maturation process and learn to take what they need and learn how to get some of the extra reps and steal some reps here and there, but he’s already on top of that.”
The only way to get better is to work on your craft and practice it over and over, and it seems as if that’s what Pickett’s done. Working extra after practice is a good way to lead by example, and Pickett’s made it clear he’d rather lead by example than be the sort of guy who gives motivational speeches to fire his teammates up.
Robinson has been around a lot of young quarterbacks in his career, playing with Blake Bortles and current Steelers’ backup Mitch Trubisky as they began their careers. He’s also played with a veteran in Matt Stafford, who’s a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, so he knows what it takes for a guy to succeed in the league, and it’s clear he’s already impressed with Pickett.
Robinson is one of the veterans on what is a very young offense, so for him to be impressed by the work of Pickett is noteworthy. Guys can talk about and praise his leadership, but if they haven’t seen other quarterbacks and other teams and how they operate, it might not mean as much. But coming from Robinson, who’s now on his fourth team in Pittsburgh and has played with a lot of quarterbacks in his career, it is certainly meaningful.
Usually, the best quarterbacks are among the best leaders in the NFL. Having that leadership trait is intangible and it’s a major sign that Pickett could end up becoming one of the better quarterbacks in this league. If guys want to rally around him and play harder for him as a quarterback and he has the work ethic to get in extra reps and continue to develop his game, then we could see Pickett take some leaps this season and in future ones.
We already saw him progress from when he first took over in the second half of Week 4 last season to the end of the year. He became a lot smarter with his decision-making and just played better football in the second half of last season. If Pickett can continue that progression into 2023 and beyond, then I’m excited to see what the Steelers could become with him under center.
