The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a new quarterback in Russell Wilson in 2024, and Wilson now becomes the second quarterback under contract in Pittsburgh, along with 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett. Pickett struggled in 2023 after showing some flashes as a rookie in 2022, and that’s one of the reasons why the team decided to bring in Wilson, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback who threw for 26 touchdowns last season with the Denver Broncos.
While Wilson is far from perfect and still has his flaws, NFL analyst Peter Schrager said on Good Morning Football that Wilson to Pittsburgh is a “great fit.”
“I think it’s a great fit in that this is a team that has a 20th overall pick in Kenny Pickett, who [was] good as a rookie, took a step back last year. And here’s Russell Wilson, who is a veteran, [35]-year-old quarterback, looking to revive his career and prove something and is not making anything. So you go together, and it’s like this isn’t your first overall pick, this isn’t a guy who was a top-five pick,” Shrager said. “Kenny Pickett is now entering Year 3. I mean, do you take the kid gloves off and say let’s have a true competition, here’s what it is? It’s not gonna be Mason Rudolph, it’s gonna be Russell Wilson. I think Russ is gonna light a fire under Pickett, Pickett’s gonna have to win his job over Russ. I find the mix interesting.”
While the signing might light a fire under Pickett, I don’t see this being a true competition. The Steelers might say it’s a competition, but I don’t think Wilson would sign so early in free agency just to back up Pickett. If the Steelers had as much faith in Pickett as they claim, they would’ve brought back Mason Rudolph and run it back with Rudolph and Pickett as their top two quarterbacks for another season.
The only thing that should give Pickett some hope is that Wilson is on the veteran minimum, so there isn’t a lot of financial investment in him from Pittsburgh. If he shows up this summer and doesn’t look good in workouts, I suppose the team could give Pickett a chance, but I think Wilson would have to really fall flat on his face to not be the Week 1 starter for Pittsburgh in 2024.
Schrager’s point about Pickett’s lack of elite pedigree is one that’s worth noting. Pickett was the first quarterback taken in a bad QB class, and if the Steelers hadn’t taken him at No. 20, he might have fallen out of the first round. While he has the label of being a first-round quarterback, he hasn’t played like one thus far, and his struggles in 2023 with accuracy and his pocket presence were worrisome after a promising end to 2022. It’s not as if he’s too accomplished or there’s too much invested in him for the Steelers to move on from him, which they’ve now seemingly done.
It’s just an unusual move for the Steelers to make but given that the team is without a playoff win since 2016, and the fact that Wilson had the unique case of being so cheap, playing for the veteran minimum, it is a low-risk move that the team deemed worth it, even if that means giving up on Pickett.
It’s been a very, very interesting offseason for the Steelers, and it’s barely even started. OTAs and training camp are about to be a lot more interesting than they have been with Wilson and Pickett now in the fold. We’ll see if Pickett has a fire lit under him, but I’d be shocked if this was a real competition.
