Everyone has been chiming in about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent move at the quarterback position. They are set to sign Russell Wilson for the veteran minimum of $1.21 million, joining Kenny Pickett as the only two quarterbacks on the team at the moment. Many have already speculated that Wilson’s addition marks the end of the Pickett era in Pittsburgh, but former Steelers RB Jerome Bettis sees things a little differently.
“It is difficult to say upgrade,” Bettis said of Wilson over Pickett in an appearance on the Dan Patrick show on Wednesday. “What you say is you got a guy that’s in a different place because I’m a Kenny Pickett fan. I think Kenny Pickett, his development is coming. Obviously he’s not there yet, but when you look at a guy in Russell Wilson he is in a different place in his career, right? He’s established, veteran guy, he’s done it for a long time at the highest level.”
It seems pretty likely that Wilson will win whatever competition may take place with his pedigree as a potential Hall of Fame quarterback, but Bettis isn’t ready to call it quits on Pickett just yet.
“I think Russell Wilson is the guy that you need right now for wins,” Bettis said. “I think if you look at Kenny Pickett, he’s gonna be the guy for the future.”
Everything the Steelers brass said leading up to the signing of Wilson indicated they still have faith in him. Some of that can probably be attributed to the fact that he was the only quarterback on the roster at the time. Ultimately the pending signing of Wilson indicates that the “full faith” GM Omar Khan stated he has in Pickett may not be as strong as he let on. But with the Steelers unlikely to draft a quarterback early in the 2024 NFL Draft, Pickett is the only current option beyond 2024.
Wilson signed a one-year deal and will not be cheap to re-sign next offseason. Unless he does something spectacular in 2024, it is hard to imagine the team spending a ton of money on what would be a 36-year-old. Pickett will be entering the final year of his rookie contract assuming the Steelers don’t pick up the fifth-year option next May, and that would give him one more chance to prove himself in Pittsburgh.
“You bring in a hired gunslinger, basically is what you’re doing,” Bettis said. “I think it makes sense because everybody’s on the hot seat, right? It’s a must-win scenario. I think coach [Mike] Tomlin gets it and he’s like, listen, we gotta win tomorrow, and this is the best way for them to do that.”
There are still those around the national media like Rich Eisen and Louis Riddick who maintain it will be a true competition and that Pickett has a chance to earn the job this year. I don’t know if I fully buy into that, but I do believe we will see one more full season of Pickett in 2025. This time, without Matt Canada and with a more experienced offense after last year’s unit was among the youngest in the league.
The downside in that situation is that if Pickett performs well the Steelers will not have team control as he would be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
