PITTSBURGH – The general manager who drafted QB Kenny Picket lauded his character and said he believes that Pickett has a bright future even though he is ticketed for a backup role in Philadelphia.
Speaking with Steelers Depot at an annual gathering of Western Pennsylvania high school football coaches, former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert pushed back against any narratives that Pickett did not handle himself well prior to the Steelers trading their 2022 first-round pick in March.
“Kenny Pickett was a great team guy,” Colbert said at Grandview Golf Club in east Pittsburgh. “I don’t like the fact that he gets portrayed as somebody other than that. Kenny gave us everything he had. He was always working with the team. He was very competitive, very tough. That was an unfortunate injury that pulled him.”
An ankle injury Pickett sustained last December against the Arizona Cardinals ultimately proved to be the beginning of the end for him in Pittsburgh. With Pickett sidelined, Mitch Trubisky started the next two games. After he struggled, the Steelers turned to Mason Rudolph.
Rudolph proved to be a revelation – and unlikely savior of the Steelers’ season. He led them to three consecutive wins to close the regular season. The 10-7 Steelers snuck into the AFC playoffs as a wild-card team.
Reports surfaced that painted varying degrees of discontent from Pickett after he was healthy enough to play but relegated to backing up Rudolph, including in the Steelers’ Wild-Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills.
During his season-in-review press conference in January, HC Mike Tomlin said he believed that the Steelers’ starting QB in 2024 was on the roster. That seemed to indicate that Pickett, who had a penchant for leading fourth-quarter comebacks despite his struggles, would enter the offseason as the Steelers’ QB1.
The Steelers’ plans changed when nine-time Pro Bowler Russell Wilson became available for pennies on the dollar. The Denver Broncos released him in March after two disappointing seasons. The Steelers signed Wilson to a one-year, $1.21 million contract with the Broncos paying the rest of the near $40 million that Wilson is owed this season.
The addition of Wilson changed the Steelers’ QB dynamic. Pickett reportedly felt misled by the team and requested a trade.
The Steelers dealt him to the Eagles on March 16 in a swap that included draft picks. The Steelers then traded a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft pick to the Chicago Bears for QB Justin Fields shortly after dealing Pickett. He will compete against Wilson for the starting job in training camp, which begins next week, with the job seemingly Wilson’s to lose.
Pickett has no path to a starting job in Philadelphia this season, barring injury. Jalen Hurts is entrenched at QB and is almost a year younger than Pickett. Pickett, 26, is under contract with the Eagles through at least the 2025 season, leaving his future as a starting NFL QB in question.
But Colbert, who retired shortly after drafting Pickett 20th overall in 2022, said that we haven’t heard the last from the player who swiftly fell out of favor in Pittsburgh.
“I think that Kenny Pickett will still be a successful, winning quarterback in the National Football League,” he said.
