One day after not getting too deep into specifics of what went down when the Pittsburgh Steelers dealt QB Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin all but said that Pickett requested a trade, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic via Twitter.
Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press added more context to the quote.
“In the days following the acquisition of Russell (Wilson), Kenny expressed a desire for a change of scenery,” Tomlin said per Maaddi on Twitter.
“As I had mentioned, we had been in been pretty fluid communication with Chicago after we got a sense for what direction that was going, then the dominoes started to fall and we did the transactions necessary to send Kenny to Philly and acquire Justin,” Tomlin said via Good Morning Football, which aired a portion of Tomlin’s media session.
Pickett himself said he thought it was time to move on, essentially confirming that he was the one who wanted out, in his introductory press conference in Philadelphia. After two seasons in Pittsburgh, the Steelers brought in Russell Wilson and likely would’ve given him the upper hand to start, just as they’re doing with Wilson over Justin Fields. Pickett clearly felt then it was time for him to move on after throwing just 13 touchdown passes over 25 games and probably being better off being pushed with some legitimate competition.
Wilson isn’t going to be a surefire top starting quarterback in the league, and while he absolutely deserves the first crack to start due to his pedigree, competing with Wilson and even backing him up would’ve been a better long-term outlook for Pickett than being entrenched as the backup behind Jalen Hurts. Either way though, if the relationship between team and player was fractured, it was likely best for both parties to move on. It just doesn’t make much sense from Pickett’s perspective to have expected the QB1 job after the performance he’s had over the past two seasons.
Trading Pickett opened the door for the Steelers to acquire Fields. He still has a long way to go before making a team confident in his ability as a potential future starter but has shown more flashes than Pickett has and is also younger despite having more experience than Pickett. The Steelers moved quickly to bring in Fields and not have a hole at quarterback behind Wilson, and GM Omar Khan did a good job making sure the room is upgraded from where it was at the end of 2023.
Pickett wanted out of Pittsburgh, but he now finds himself in a tough situation backing up Hurts in Philadelphia. He’ll look to revive his career with the Eagles, his childhood favorite team, while the Steelers will look to break their playoff win drought with Wilson and Fields as their top two quarterback options.
