The 2023 season has not gone well for second-year Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, period.
In a season in which he was expected to make a significant leap into a potential franchise quarterback level after a strong close to his rookie season and an impressive training camp and preseason, Pickett — much like the Steelers’ offense — has fallen flat on his face. He has struggled with accuracy, pocket awareness and injuries, and really hasn’t flashed the downfield willingness he showed in training camp and the preseason.
Pickett also saw his offensive coordinator in Matt Canada get fired entering Week 12. He has taken care of the football nicely all season long, but there just hasn’t enough juice there with the former Pitt star. Maybe that changes in 2024 when the Steelers bring in a new offensive coordinator and potentially an entirely new offensive coaching staff.
But if it’s just a new offensive coordinator and other coaching positions remain the same, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has some suggestions for what the Steelers do at the quarterback position. That involves two veteran quarterbacks whom Steelers quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan knows well.
Case Keenum and Geno Smith.
If those two names don’t get the juices flowing, you aren’t alone.
But there are direct ties to Sullivan, and Barnwell lays out the case for both in a piece for ESPN.com Thursday morning.
“Quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan served as the offensive coordinator for the Broncos in 2018, and his starter there was Case Keenum. (If you haven’t noticed, Keenum has connects with just about every coaching staff in the league.) He was also the offensive coordinator for the Giants during the Ben McAdoo era, when the backup for Eli Manning was current Seahawks starter Geno Smith,” Barnwell writes regarding potential names for the Steelers at the quarterback position.
“Smith isn’t a free agent, but fi the Seahawks make a change at quarterback, I wonder if the Steelers would consider trading for him.”
We’ll see if Sullivan is still with the Steelers after the season, but if he is, it’s a good bet that the Steelers will bring someone in with veteran experience to not only back up Kenny Pickett but one with experience working with Sullivan. Both Keenum and Smith have that, though if the Steelers miraculously decided to trade for Smith — if Seattle wants to make a change — they wouldn’t be bringing him in as a backup to Pickett.
Keenum is an interesting name, though, especially with backup quarterback Mason Rudolph a free agent again after the season, and Mitch Trubisky likely on his way out of town after he was demoted to QB3 following two poor starts in place of Pickett. That departure for Trubisky could come just one summer after signing an extension to remain the backup in Pittsburgh.
In 2018 with the Broncos under Sullivan, Keenum led Denver to a 6-10 season. He completed 62.3% of his passes, throwing for 3,890 yards, 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He also added two rushing touchdowns that season and led the Broncos to a come-from-behind 24-17 win over the Steelers in Denver, throwing for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Throughout his career, Keenum has bounced all over the place. He’s spent time in Minnesota, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington and Cleveland as a starter and has also spent time with Buffalo. He’s played in 79 career games with 65 career starts and has 79 touchdowns to just 49 interceptions, good for a 2.2% interception rate, which is pretty darn good.
Keenum might not exactly move the needle, but he’d be a sound backup to bring in behind a young quarterback who needs to find his groove and unlock his moxie once again like Pickett does. Keenum has been a key backup in Houston this season behind Texans standout rookie C.J. Stroud. He even filled in during Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans and helped lead them to an overtime win to keep the Texans squarely in the playoff picture.
Were the Steelers to potentially kick the tires on him, it wouldn’t be the overhaul that many want at the quarterback position in general, but an addition like Keenum would be a smart one for the Steelers, putting him behind Pickett as insurance.
