For the fifth time in his brief career, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett is dealing with an injury.
In the past, he’s had two concussions, a rib injury, a bone bruise in his knee, and he was dealing with an ankle injury all week leading up to Sunday’s matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. He re-aggravated that injury in the second quarter Sunday, leaving the game. On Monday, Pickett had surgery on his ankle to try and speed up the recovery process.
The latest injury that knocked him from the game and will reportedly cause him to miss two to four weeks, has some raising concerns about Pickett’s durability in the NFL.
Head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t share those concerns.
“No, not as I sit here today,” Tomlin said to reporters Monday when asked if there was any growing concern about Pickett dealing with injuries. “You know, he was managing that ankle prior to yesterday. I think it was listed on the injury report every day last week. And so it got aggravated and we just did what was necessary in terms of addressing it.
“I don’t know that we’re viewing it as something that’s chronic, particularly with something like an ankle injury. And so we’re just dealing with this on a case-by-case basis as we sit here right now.”
That’s probably the correct way for Tomlin and the Steelers to view things with Pickett as it’s now an ankle injury and not another concussion or rib injury.
However, Pickett has been banged up in his first year and a half in the NFL. He tends to hold onto the football a bit too long behind an offensive line that has had its issues in pass protection. He’s not the biggest or most durable guy, either.
Pickett has a certain toughness to him and has missed just one full game in his career due to injury, that being on the road last season against Carolina when he was out with a concussion. But he shouldn’t have to be battling through ailments like this, considering the position he plays and the style in which he plays.
It’s not like he’s a dual-threat quarterback that the Steelers lean on in the run game. He’s a pocket passer with some mobility. Yet he’s taken some big hits on the move and has put himself in harm’s way at times with the ball in his hands.
It might not be a concern now for the Steelers, but long-term it has to come into play. He’s been battered and is having a hard time staying healthy.
