Coming out of the Week 17 win on the road over the Seattle Seahawks, there was some curious speculation regarding second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett being inactive despite stating that he was healthy.
Multiple reports surfaced Monday that Pickett refused to be the backup to Mason Rudolph because he was healthy and upset that he wasn’t playing. Other reports Monday refuted that.
On Tuesday, Pickett shut down any notion that he refused to be the backup, stating emphatically that it wasn’t true and that he was disappointed something like that would be reported.
“I saw reports out there that I felt like were attacking my character and how I am as a person, not even getting into a player standpoint of it. There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two. If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play,” Pickett said to reporters, according to video via The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly on Twitter.
As Mike Tomlin always likes to say, a player cannot lose his job due to injury, and that was largely viewed as the case with Pickett. If he was healthy, he was going to play. But again, Pickett was limited all week in practice the last two weeks and was never anywhere close to returning to the lineup, even with him telling reporters last week that he felt he was healthy and ready to play.
The team doctors felt differently, and in the end the Steelers decided to sit him another week and keep him inactive.
“If they believed that I was not, which they believed I was not, I was not gonna dress and suit up for the game,” Pickett said. “So, whoever reported that, I don’t know where it started, it’s kind of crazy what people will write and put out there to try to prove their point or help their standpoint or their careers and what you guys do.
“But, you know, disappointed to see that without any proof or basis of it. So this week I’m now the two. They feel good four weeks out of the surgery, for me to dress and be the two. So I’ll be the two and do what I have to do to be ready to go from Baltimore.”
Mark Madden of 105.9 The X was the first to report that Pickett refused to be the backup. Later, other outlets picked up on the report, which gained steam.
After being injured against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13 and then undergoing tightrope surgery on his ankle to speed up the recovery process, Pickett missed the last four games, including losses to the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts and wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and Seattle Seahawks.
Tomlin acknowledged Monday that Pickett, as a competitor, wants the ball and wants to be out on the field, but there was never any question about his commitment to the team or backing up Rudolph, whom Tomlin named the starter for the season finale against the Ravens.
Pickett has every right to be disappointed by the report. It’s rather exhausting that we’ve gotten to this point with this team. There always appears to be drama inside and outside. Pickett never came off as the type of selfish player that the reports painted him as. He’s always been a team-first guy, one who wants to win no matter what, even if that means he takes a backseat.
It certainly has to be eating at him that he’s not the starting quarterback of the Steelers right now, especially with him being passed up by Rudolph entering the final week of the season. But he’s not going to make waves about it. He’s going to put his head down, work hard at his craft, ensure he’s prepared and do whatever it takes to support Rudolph.
Thankfully, Pickett put the speculation to rest with an emphatic statement. Kudos to him for addressing it head on. Now, the focus can get back to Baltimore.
