Yesterday, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded QB Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles. Pickett was supposed to replace future Hall of Fame QB Ben Roethlisberger and usher in a new era of Steelers football but that very clearly did not happen. The Pickett era was not very successful and general manager Omar Khan pulled the plug on it before the Steelers ended up in a Daniel Jones and the New York Giants situation.
Pickett did show flashes at times, but never enough to be a consistently good starter. But there is talent there, and former NFL wide receiver James Jones said he thinks Pickett sitting behind a talented veteran quarterback in Jalen Hurts will be good for him, but he is not capable of being a starting quarterback in the NFL.
“I’m with some of these young guys that were high draft picks sitting back watching the good, the bad, seeing these blitzes come after you, being able to pick it up, seeing the quarterback not pick it up, where to go with the football; I think all that stuff is going to benefit him,” said Jones on Speak which was posted to Twitter. “I think it’s a good fit for him to sit behind Jalen Hurts to learn and get better, but I don’t think Kenny Pickett in this league is a starting quarterback.”
The biggest problem for Pickett was his lack of touchdowns. Not all of that was his fault, as the offense as designed and called by offensive coordinator Matt Canada was a disaster, but playing in 25 games and only throwing 13 touchdowns is unacceptable.
For what it’s worth, Pickett did sit and learn behind QB Mitchell Trubisky to start his career. Head coach Mike Tomlin refused to give him the keys to the offense to start his career and hoped Pickett would learn behind Trubisky. It is also true that Hurts is a much better quarterback than Trubisky, which may help Pickett’s development.
With Kenny Pickett now sitting behind Hurts, it is very unlikely he will get another shot starting until the end of his rookie contract when he can become a free agent. At that point, will Pickett even be given a shot to start? There are 25 games worth of film on Pickett and he has had maybe one game where he really looked good throughout. Pickett is also older, and coming out of the 2021 NFL Draft, the entire quarterback class was looked at negatively. I would find it hard to believe that many teams would be ready to give him another shot to start.
As a quarterback, you have to put points on the board, and Kenny Pickett didn’t do that in Pittsburgh. The Steelers dealt him a bad hand, but he also never elevated the team with his play. Hopefully, sitting behind Hurts will do Pickett well, but as Jones said, it is hard to see him as a starting quarterback in the NFL after his regression in his second NFL season.
