Colin Cowherd has made his feelings about QB Kenny Pickett clear. Good kid, a decent quarterback, never going to win a Super Bowl. To him, that isn’t the Pittsburgh Steelers’ biggest problem. The issue is the team’s “sunk cost” fallacy. Holding onto what Cowherd views as a mistake as opposed to moving on. As Cowherd has said many times, the Steelers’ unwavering loyalty will be their downfall.
That’s what he told Ty Dunne on Dunne’s The Volume podcast.
“Pittsburgh, the Rooneys are just embedded in that community,” Cowherd told Dunne. “They don’t want to draft Pittsburgh kids and cut them or trade them. They’re going to keep Kenny Pickett around for years. They’re not going to bail on Kenny Pickett, a first-round quarterback. They’re not going to do it to that kid. And I gotta tell you, Ty. I just don’t see it. I just don’t see it.”
Pickett was one part franchise quarterback, one-part feel-good story when the Steelers made him their first-round pick in 2022, the first quarterback selected that year. They had the unique benefit of being able to watch him grow throughout his five years at Pitt. The Panthers and the Steelers share the same practice facility, creating interactions other teams scouting Pickett wouldn’t have. Though Tomlin’s typically against the word, it created more comfort in drafting him compared to the other options they had.
How salient is Cowherd’s point? Time will tell. It should be made clear while Pickett went to Pitt, he’s a New Jersey native. He was not born and raised with Western PA roots. Beyond that, there’s no question the Rooneys are family-built and have a loyalty to them most other organizations don’t have. They don’t make knee-jerk reactions, they’re not quick to fire, they give players and coaches time to figure things out. Even if Pickett struggles the rest of 2023, he’ll likely remain the team’s starter for 2024.
But it doesn’t mean he’ll be their quarterback for the next five seasons. The team has moved on from Pitt guys before. The Steelers let RB James Conner walk and drafted Alabama’s Najee Harris to replace him. A difficult decision but one the team made, unable to rely on Conner’s health. And while this is dating things, this is a franchise that passed on Pittsburgh native and Panther QB Dan Marino in order to take Gabe Rivera, a DT from Texas Tech. So, this organization isn’t solely built around Pittsburgh ties. It’s also worth noting GM Omar Khan didn’t draft Pickett. That was Kevin Colbert in his final draft class before handing the keys to Khan one month later.
If Pickett plays out the four years of his rookie deal, that wouldn’t be unheard of for a rookie quarterback. In fact, it’s pretty typical. It’s obvious Pickett isn’t a mega-bust the way many first-round quarterbacks have been, the Josh Rosen’s of the world, where it becomes immediately apparent the team must move on. Pickett has zero off-field concerns and is a hard worker, giving him as many chances as possible to showcase his ceiling.
The biggest line in the sand could come by May of 2025 when the team will have to decide whether or not to pick up Pickett’s 5th-year option. Of course, if he plays exceedingly well, it’s possible the team will work out a long-term deal prior to that deadline. But as of now, he isn’t on that kind of course, and so Cowherd’s theory won’t really be tested for another 18 months.
