Voted an offensive captain for the 2023 season, it appeared as though Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was truly ascending as that leader needed offensively on a unit that remains one of the youngest in football.
Even though Pickett was just a second-year guy at the time, the move to vote him a team captain appeared as though the leadership ascension was complete, that the offense was Pickett’s now and well into the future.
That wasn’t the case as the season played out.
Pickett struggled and seemingly lost some belief from members of the offense. That much was clear late in the season. Mason Rudolph stepped into the lineup and played very well and the offense got a significant boost immediately.
But now, with the offseason underway, Pickett remains QB1 in the eyes of the Steelers’ decision makers. He’ll need to asset himself as a leader for the offense, something that veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson is excited to see Pickett do in 2024.
Appearing on the latest episode of the “All Things Covered” podcast with former Steelers’ cornerback Bryant McFadden, Peterson said the leadership aspect will be up to Pickett and stated that it wasn’t his fault last season he didn’t know how to truly lead because didn’t have that veteran in front him to show him how.
“Honestly, I’ve been around Kirk [Cousins]. We need a quarterback that got leadership that he carries and brings every single day. And this is not a knock on Kenny. He just hasn’t seen it before,” Peterson said. “It’s not a knock on Kenny. Like, Kenny is a great guy. He’s learning how to become a great leader. He’s been thrown into the fire. If you look at it, he had no vet in front of him to learn from, going through, what, his second offensive coordinator in his third season?
“So, it’s still a lot that he has to go through far as those growing pains.”
The 2023 season was a difficult one for Pickett, no doubt. He struggled with injuries, getting banged up multiple times early in the year before ultimately missing time late in the season with a high ankle sprain that required tightrope surgery. Then, after he was healthy, he never made it back into the lineup because of how well Rudolph was playing.
That was a difficult situation for Pickett. He might not have handled it as well as he could have, but that’s part of being a young player in the NFL, learning on the job and going through situations to grow from.
Undoubtedly, Pickett dealt with a lot of adversity last season. Now, he gets a fresh start in 2024 with a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, and some time on the bench last season could have helped him reset and get back to playing the way the Steelers believe he is capable of playing.
Peterson believes he’ll be a good player and a great leader.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he will get there because I know how bad that he wants it, you know? So, it’s going to be intriguing to see how his career and how the season and how everything’s gonna unfold because it’s gonna be up to him,” Peterson added. “He’s gonna have to take the bull by the horn and really make this out what he wants it to be.”
It will all be on Pickett in 2024. How he responds to the fresh start, how he takes advantage of the opportunity with the reset and how he acclimates back into a leadership role while learning a new offense comes down to him.
He wants it bad enough; that much is clear in his work ethic. Time to start seeing results.
