With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season at an end in a bitter loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wildcard Round, it’s time to look to the future already. There will be plenty to wrap up over the next several months as players come and go, including re-signings, releases, draft picks, perhaps trades, and who knows what else.
We will also inevitably take stock of who had good seasons, who had bad seasons, who improved their position, who hurt theirs. In case you haven’t noticed, the NFL has long turned itself into a 365-day business (366 during leap years), so we’ll always have something to discuss.
Player: QB Kenny Pickett
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: With the second round of the postseason beginning, we now turn our focus away from the Steelers’ final game in this series and toward more long-view evaluations. First up is the most significant player on the roster, for better or worse—and in this case, it was for worse.
I struggle to conjure even a theoretical scenario in which it’s good for a healthy starting quarterback to be the backup in a playoff game. I’m sure I could manage it if I tried hard, but I would fear straining a brain muscle.
No, I can’t twist and contort QB Kenny Pickett’s sophomore season into a story of triumph for the former first-round pick. While it was precipitated by an injury, the fact remains that he got benched. The reason he didn’t start the final two games was because head coach Mike Tomlin didn’t think he was the best quarterback on the roster in that moment.
All the more remarkable is that he lost to his backup’s backup. Mitch Trubisky got benched while starting in place of Pickett following his ankle injury. After two starts, he was pulled in favor of Mason Rudolph. The latter started the final three games, including the Wild Card game.
Pickett is supposed to be the face of the franchise, yet Tomlin said he will be challenged. And he said that he wants Rudolph to be a part of that challenge, if they can re-sign him. There would be no question of challenges if his performance dictated otherwise.
On the season, he completed 201 of 324 pass attempts for 2,070 yards. He threw just six touchdowns, fewer than he had as a rookie, compared to four interceptions. While he did a tremendous job protecting the ball, that proved to be his only highlight.
To his credit, his numbers look better after offensive coordinator Matt Canada was fired. In the better part of six quarters, he went 31-for-43 passing, throwing for 348 yards. While he was held without a touchdown (or an interception), he averaged 8.1 yards per attempt and was navigating a largely efficient offense.
In that sense, you could argue that his season, where it ended, ended somewhat on a high note. He never got a chance to play again after that. The Steelers are hoping that a new coordinator with a new system will maximize his abilities. They have no choice but to hope right now.
