Former NFL quarterback and current analyst David Carr revealed his preseason power rankings for the AFC North in 2023 on NFL Network, and his rankings were a little different than the consensus. Carr has the Baltimore Ravens fourth, the Pittsburgh Steelers third, the Cleveland Browns second and then the Cincinnati Bengals tops in the division. He thinks that if it weren’t for inexperience at quarterback, Pittsburgh would be higher.
“I think the two teams ahead of them, the quarterback play is just a notch above,” Carr said. “I don’t necessarily have question marks about Matt Canada, although some people may. I think this is more about just letting these components play itself out. Use the speed at the wide receiver position, let Kenny expand his field vision. And that’s gonna be really the only thing that keeps them out of competing to win this division is just a little bit of inexperience at the quarterback position.”
It’s interesting that his concerns aren’t with Canada but more just the general inexperience of Pickett. I think that if Pickett takes a step forward and the offense looks better than last year, Canada obviously deserves credit. But for the offense to expand is pretty much the bare minimum Canada needs to do given how rudimentary it was at points last season.
I also just don’t see this big gap in talent at the moment between Deshaun Watson and Pickett. Watson didn’t look good last season when he returned from suspension and a year off the season prior, While he’s had good seasons in the past I’m not gonna be quick to go off his seasons that are now three to four years in the rearview mirror.
It’s a little bit of semantics because if Carr had the Ravens in second and made the same comment about the quarterback play being a notch above, it would make sense. But I just don’t see Watson being all that much better than Pickett right now.
But it’s a fair argument to make that Pickett is the fourth-best quarterback in the division, but I’m not sure it’ll be his inexperience holding Pittsburgh back. He’s put in a lot of work this offseason and gotten rave reviews for how he’s looked and his leadership. If Pickett can put the pieces together this season and look like an improved quarterback, it won’t be his inexperience preventing the team from winning the division, it’ll be the fact that the division is loaded and some teams are just more talented.
This season is going to be fun to watch with a super competitive AFC North race. While I don’t expect the Steelers to win the division, I expect them to be competitive and fight for first place for the majority of the season and make the playoffs. It’s a reasonable expectation for Pittsburgh this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen.
