The fallout of the Kenny Pickett saga ending his time in Pittsburgh continues to be a bit ugly.
Pickett, the No. 20 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of the University of Pittsburgh, was set to enter his third season in a potential quarterback battle with 35-year-old free agency signee Russell Wilson. But instead of embracing the competition, Pickett requested a trade, landing with the Philadelphia Eagles, locking himself into a backup job behind star quarterback Jalen Hurts on the other side of the state.
That move to request a trade after he reportedly felt “misled” by the Steelers has had a number of talking heads bashing him left and right in recent days as it appears — at least on the outside — that he ran from competition.
Former NFL offensive lineman and two-time Super Bowl champion Damien Woody ripped into him Monday on ESPN’s Get Up. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio did the same, questioning what Pickett’s done in the NFL to feel entitled to a starting job.
On Tuesday, Florio followed up that bashing of Pickett with another barb at the former Steelers quarterback following his introductory press conference with the Eagles in which he stated he believes he handled everything the way he should have in his departure from the Steelers.
“We talked a lot about Kenny Pickett yesterday, and apparently some people, I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s necessarily noteworthy or controversial to suggest that Kenny Pickett was acting entitled. I mean, he started 24 games, he threw 13 touchdown passes, he threw 13 interceptions,” Florio said regarding Pickett and his entitlement he displayed in his request to be traded out of Pittsburgh. “And the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that he didn’t like how he was treated late last year, and he didn’t like the fact that they brought in Russell Wilson. Well, you’re not Terry Bradshaw. You’re not Ben Roethlisberger, Kenny. You’re not gonna get special treatment in the NFL.
“This isn’t high school. There’s no birthright, there’s no entitlement. You get what you earn and if you don’t earn it, you get gone. And he’s gone to Philadelphia.”
It’s not a hot take to say Pickett isn’t Bradshaw or Roethlisberger, two pillars of the franchise and among the all-time greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.
Even with him being a first-round pick in 2022 — and quite honestly the Prince of Pittsburgh at the time due to his historic run with the Panthers to an ACC Championship — all that should have been forgotten about as soon as he stepped across to the NFL side of the facility as a member of the Steelers.
And yet, it seemingly wasn’t. That entitlement seemingly stuck with him and led to some alleged poor behavior from him in Year 2, eventually leading to his exit.
That chip on the shoulder that made him grind and turn himself from an overlooked prospect entering college into a Heisman Trophy finalist and then a first-round pick of the Steelers should have stayed with him, made him want to prove people wrong and win the competition outright with his play this summer.
Instead, he took his ball and went home. There’s really no other way to spin it.
What Pickett earned – even in a bad situation offensively with a poor coordinator and overall scheme — was the opportunity for the Steelers to look into adding competition to push him or overtake him. It’s that simple. If he would have played better and stayed healthy, he likely isn’t in Philadelphia right now.
But that’s the way things go in professional football. Hopefully that sense of entitlement that Pickett seemed to display late this past season and early this offseason disappears in Philadelphia where he’s no longer “the man” and is just another guy fighting for the QB2 spot behind Hurts with Tanner McKee.
