The Pittsburgh Steelers are still trying to find a quarterback who can win them a playoff game (hopefully more). They haven’t won a playoff game in almost a decade, since Ben Roethlisberger was under center. And the team’s efforts to replace him have failed so far. And there may not have been a bigger swing-and-a-miss than Kenny Pickett.
In 2022, the Steelers drafted Pickett with the 20th overall pick. He was the local kid, familiar with the field and facility due to his time at the University of Pittsburgh. Then you factor in his explosive 2021 season, when he threw for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns, and expectations were sky-high.
But we all know how things worked out with the Steelers. He only played 25 games over two years. He completed 62.6 percent of his passes, threw for 4,474 yards, and 13 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. It was a failure. But four-time Super Bowl champion QB Terry Bradshaw doesn’t view Pickett as a failure. He sees it as an organizational failure to support him.
“I liked Kenny Pickett,” said Bradshaw on 103.7 The Buzz’s Morning Mayhem show on Monday. ” I liked him at Pitt. I know him. I know what he’s like. And when they got him to Pittsburgh, here’s what they didn’t do. They didn’t protect him… They didn’t get him an offensive line. They wanted to run the football, but they didn’t have an offensive line. They couldn’t protect, and they didn’t have weapons. He had no wide receivers to speak of. And then you throw a kid in there for two years, and you got an offense that doesn’t fit and doesn’t work, and they can’t run because their offensive line’s not even good enough for a run-blocking team.
“And therefore they say Pickett was a failure. He wasn’t a failure. The Steelers were a failure.”
Those are some strong words coming from the Steelers legend. But he’s not wrong, at least not totally. The Steelers have been largely inept on offense, regardless of who is at quarterback. Part of that is due to the issues on the offensive line.
Players like LT Dan Moore Jr., RT Chukwuma Okorafor, C Mason Cole, G Kevin Dotson, and G James Daniels all played along the offensive line during Pickett’s tenure in Pittsburgh. And none of them are on the roster. You certainly can make the argument that the Steelers attempted to address the offensive line by trading up for OT Broderick Jones in the 2023 NFL Draft. But he hasn’t panned out so far. And you can argue that the Steelers have let him down by playing him out of position for most of his first two seasons.
As for weapons, Pickett’s top two wide receivers, Diontae Johnson and George Pickens, are gone. RB Najee Harris is gone. Really, the only main offensive weapons left are TE Pat Freiermuth and RB Jaylen Warren. Freiermuth signed a contract extension before the 2024 season, but insider Gerry Dulac doesn’t believe the Steelers will keep Warren long-term.
However, at the core of the offensive issues is just how bad the offensive scheme and playcalling have been. When the Steelers drafted Pickett, Matt Canada was the offensive coordinator. He continued to be in that position until the Steelers fired him midway through the 2023 season. Just how bad of a coach do you have to be for the Steelers to fire you mid-season? Really bad.
Between the offensive line and Matt Canada, Bradshaw makes a compelling case for the Steelers letting Kenny Pickett down. However, I don’t think this was a one-sided affair. Pickett was historically bad in Pittsburgh. There are quite a few plays you can go back and look at and say he just didn’t make the play that was there.
But the Steelers sure didn’t give Kenny Pickett much help, either. And that is organizational failure. But, at least on the offensive line part, it appears the Steelers have learned their lesson. They have invested heavily in adding talent in the draft recently. They added OT Troy Fautanu, C Zach Frazier, and G Mason McCormick in the 2024 NFL draft. And Frazier already looks like he’ll be the long-term answer at center.
But Bradshaw isn’t liking where the Steelers are going at the quarterback position. At least, he’s not a fan of the Steelers pursuing Aaron Rodgers.
