Those who don’t want to read anything more about Kenny Pickett might as well click out of this article. If you keep reading, you only have yourself to blame. We are talking about the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback now because his personal coach reignited the conversation. Speaking to a New Jersey media outlet, Tony Racioppi said Pickett was the victim of “BS” narratives during his Pittsburgh exodus.
Local Steelers beat writers were the principal perpetrators of these narratives, particularly those from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Their reports painted Pickett in a negative light, suggesting his reaction to the team signing Russell Wilson was so poor that the coaches were taken aback and readily accepted his trade request.
Others have offered conflicting reports, and let’s be honest, quite possibly all of them are true in their own way. When every party only learns a piece of the puzzle, you can get different perspectives of the same event. The end result is the same: Pickett asked the Steelers to trade him after they signed Wilson and they obliged.
“How do I put this as gently as possible? Did the Steelers need to make him look bad? Did he need any help to look bad?”, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday when asked about Racioppi’s latest comments about Kenny Pickett.
While the Steelers posted a winning record under Pickett, the defense deserves much of the credit. He earned brownie points for a series of fourth-quarter comebacks—but typically in low-scoring games. He never won a game in which the opposing team scored 20-plus points without defensive assistance. For a first-round pick with dozens of starts, you expect more than 13 passing touchdowns, for example.
“He did nothing special. It was all meat and potatoes, simple, basic stuff. So, I get why they did it”, Florio added regarding Pickett’s performance as Steelers quarterback. “And it had to be bad for the Steelers to admit failure of a first-round pick at the quarterback position and throw him overboard after two years. I don’t think he needs any help as it relates to narratives that make him look bad. He made himself look bad in the two years he had to show that he could be an NFL quarterback at a high level”.
A first-round pick in 2022 out of Pitt, Kenny Pickett posted a 14-10 record as a starter. He went 446-of-713 for 4,474 yards with 13 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. He also took 50 sacks, many of them of his own creation by rolling out of clean pockets. Against the Ravens in 2022, he rolled out of a clean pocket and took a hit that gave him a concussion.
“Look, Kenny Pickett pays this guy”, Florio said of Racioppi with a laugh, stating the obvious. “Maybe that’s all I needed to say in response to the last question. Kenny Pickett pays this guy. He’s got a vested interest in making Kenny look good, so he is gonna push back against anything that might him look bad”.
Pickett still has the opportunity to write his own future, but it will take some time. The Steelers traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he is clearly entrenched behind Jalen Hurts. It may be some time before he even has another shot at a starting job, but he can hold onto Geno Smith while he waits.
And regardless of what Pickett or Racioppi says, there will be some who continue to view him as a quitter. He helped foster the perception that he was unwilling to face a challenge from the likes of Russell Wilson. Rather than attempt to prove himself and fight for his job, he requested a trade. Nobody has ever claimed that Pickett didn’t ask for this.
