Throughout the offseason leading up to the start of free agency, everything that was said by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ leadership was pretty positive toward Kenny Pickett. Head coach Mike Tomlin said after the season that the 2024 starter was already on the roster, GM Omar Khan expressed full faith in Kenny Pickett, and owner Art Rooney II said that Pickett has shown himself to be a winner. So once news broke that Russell Wilson was signing with the Steelers, speculation went into overdrive on whether or not it Pittsburgh would have a QB competition.
Wilson was asked—a couple times—if he thought he was going to be the starting quarterback in his introductory press conference. He more or less dodged the question.
“I come in the mindset [of] just being the best version of me every day,” Wilson said via the Steelers’ YouTube Channel. “I think that’s always the plan. What we’re trying to do is, I wanna help our football team win. I think that’s the job of the quarterback role is to help the Pittsburgh Steelers win. And that’s always been the goal every day.”
He answered the question without answering the question. No surprise as saying anything at this juncture would not do the team any good. He knows he is entering a delicate situation with a recent first-round quarterback, one whom the organization has continually supported as the future of the team.
There was an immediate follow up after he dodged the initial question, asking how important it was to him to find a place where he felt like he could be the starter.
“Yeah, I think every day you wake up, you look forward to helping the team win,” Wilson said. “I think that’s honestly my focus right now. I’ve been fortunate to be in this league for a long time and have had a lot of success and done some cool things, but there’s more to do. And that’s where my head’s at.”
Both questions were pretty direct and didn’t leave room for an out, but Wilson took the out regardless.
Some around the media have speculated on both sides of the argument. Rich Eisen and Louis Riddick have been pretty vocal about maintaining that it is a competition, while Adam Schefter, among others, said Wilson wouldn’t go anywhere he doesn’t think he would start.
For what it’s worth, Wilson has expressed his vision for his five-year plan in the NFL and it included two more Super Bowl trophies. That doesn’t sound like a guy who is ready to wind down his career by holding a clipboard on the sideline.
Wilson did say that he texted with Pickett after he made the decision to join the Steelers.
It would benefit the Steelers to make it an actual competition as they have a first-round quarterback who has only started 24 games. Just two of those were without former OC Matt Canada, whom many blamed for the Steelers’ offensive woes. If Wilson starts, they have zero more opportunities to see what Pickett is before their fifth-year option decision next May.
Many signs point toward that being the case, but Wilson took the team-friendly approach of staying a mile away from those questions.
