Don’t make a bad situation worse. Don’t throw good money after bad. The sunk cost fallacy. Those are errors made by franchises all the time. If there’s anything positive to be said about the Pittsburgh Steelers moving on from Kenny Pickett, the team didn’t dwell on their mistake.
Of course, Pickett is the one who seemed to ask to be shown the door. Based on all reporting, Pickett requested a trade after finding out Russell Wilson was signed and would get the first nod as the team’s starter, even if there was to be a summer competition. But Pittsburgh, with their “volunteers, not hostages” mentality, obliged and clearly wasn’t shy about getting him out of the building.
Missing on a first-round quarterback is a setback. Or, at best, as it’s done for Pittsburgh, stagnation. They haven’t gotten much worse, remaining a competitive Wild Card-bound team who can’t win in the playoffs, but there’s been no tangible step forward toward the ultimate goal of a Super Bowl. But the only thing worse than making that mistake is not admitting one. It’s burning your steak to a crisp and convincing yourself it tastes good if you just add a little A1 Sauce.
When an organization makes a mistake, the only option is to fix it immediately. That’s what Pittsburgh did. The Pickett era is closed and the Steelers can set their sights on finding their next quarterback of the future. Who that is, it’s impossible to say. At least the franchise knows they have to figure out their next steps, which will begin with filling out the quarterback room and evaluating Wilson this year to determine if he could be signed to another deal 12 months from now.
Though they’re not exactly poster children for well-run franchises, I think about the Arizona Cardinals and QB Josh Rosen. The tenth overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft but quickly realized their error. The next year, holding the top pick, they dealt Rosen to the Miami Dolphins and drafted Kyler Murray. It was a tough move but the right one. Rosen never worked out and Murray pushed the franchise forward, even if he hasn’t become an elite-level quarterback.
Pittsburgh isn’t in the exact same situation. Pickett isn’t as bad as Rosen, the Steelers don’t have the “luxury” of picking first overall to choose whoever they want. But the idea is the same. Pickett wasn’t going to be the franchise quarterback they hoped for. He probably is better than what he showed in 2023 but the odds of him shaping into a Top Ten quarterback in football, the minimum needed to compete for a Super Bowl, were low. Tough as it is to admit, if he’s not the guy, he’s not the guy. And you can’t hang onto the pre-draft hope. It helps Omar Khan wasn’t GM when Pickett was drafted and hired one month later into the role.
Ultimately, where the Steelers go from here is anyone’s guess. After acquiring Justin Fields, there are options. A Wilson extension is something the team seems interested in pursuing, with Fields now one of the league’s top backups. Most of the top teams find their quarterbacks through the draft, and perhaps that’s how Pittsburgh will find its eventual long-term successor. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott, C.J. Stroud, the list goes on, all drafted by their club. And not all required a top-three pick. Allen went seventh, Mahomes went 10th, Jackson 32nd (after the Ravens took a 25-year-old failed baseball pitcher turned tight end ahead of him), and Prescott in the fourth round.
Philosophically, it’s the approach I’ve always advocated for. But that’s a conversation for next March, not this one. The focus right now is on transitioning from the Pickett era into this brave new and exciting world instead of tinkering around the margins, hoping for slight improvements, and inevitably ending with disappointment.
