Somehow, the Pittsburgh Steelers just made the offseason even more interesting. A few hours after new QB Russell Wilson met with the media for his introductory press conference, the Steelers reportedly traded Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles. That was a stunner of a move after the organization talked up competition throughout the start of the offseason. Even Wilson dodged questions at his press conference about starting and competing with Pickett.
So why would the Steelers make that move? Adam Schefter reported that Pickett wanted to move on from Pittsburgh and the quarterback situation.
That did not sit well with Zach Gelb. On Friday’s episode of the Zach Gelb Show (which kicked off right after the news broke), Gelb teed off on Pickett.
“That’s how this went down?” Gelb said. “That Kenny Pickett knew Russell Wilson was going to be the starter, so therefore he preferred to be a backup quarterback somewhere else… I do think it’s incredibly weak by Kenny Pickett. Once he knows Russell Wilson’s coming in, yeah, I’d prefer to move on. I’d prefer to say peace out, Pittsburgh.”
In the last week, the Steelers’ quarterback situation has gone through quite the adjustment. It was last Thursday when Gerry Dulac originally reported that there was mutual interest between the Steelers and Wilson. Since then, the Steelers have signed Wilson, and he has been introduced to the Pittsburgh media. Now this trade.
Now not only is Wilson the newest Steelers quarterback, but he is the only quarterback under contract for 2024. That was the situation the Steelers were in with Pickett before they met with Wilson a week ago. There’s work to be done by general manager Omar Khan in the not-too-distant future.
Gelb sees this trade as Pickett simply deciding that he wanted out akin to a petulant kid on the neighborhood baseball field: “You’re going to take your ball and you’re going to go home?” Now there’s likely more to the story than simply Pickett stamping his feet and kicking up dust. CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala reported that head coach Mike Tomlin told Pickett that Wilson was going to be the starting quarterback. That came after months of outward support for Pickett from Tomlin and team brass.
So maybe Pickett has a case for being upset with the Steelers. That’s not the point Gelb is making, though. It’s the fact that Pickett reportedly wanted out of a situation where he’s going to be the backup quarterback to go a team in the Eagles where he’s going to be the backup quarterback. It smacks of being mad, frustrated, and shortsighted rather than trying to fix things.
However, there does seem to be some internal belief in the Steelers organization that Pickett has an attitude issue. Dulac reported that Pickett didn’t handle the Wilson signing well at all, and that that was the final straw that led to the Steelers making the trade. Dulac even referenced Pickett not dressing as the emergency quarterback for the Week 17 game versus the Seattle Seahawks last season. It’s not like Pickett had lit the league on fire (though you could argue he was part of the offense looking like a dumpster fire for most of 2023), and it’s always harder to overlook grumbling people when they aren’t a part of success.
As always, there are multiple sides to this story. Whether Pickett had a legitimate reason to be upset or is being petulant, the simple fact is this: Kenny Pickett’s tenure in Pittsburgh is over. Now Pickett will be sitting on the bench in Philadelphia where he’ll arguably have an even tougher time seeing the field in 2024.
