End of Pickett era with Steelers is best for all
It was a normal Friday and I was looking for a column idea when the news of Aaron Donald retiring came across the wires and, well, that made for an easy day in my mind.
That was quickly nuked, though, when this bombshell involving a former Pitt player hit the news wire: Steelers are trading QB Kenny Pickett to the Eagles. Wait, what?
That news seemed so fake that I had to check to make sure it was legitimate. Sure enough, the news was real.
I mean, just Thursday as a part of my mailbag, a reader named Amy asked if I thought the Steelers would trade Pickett and here was my answer:
“There is no chance they trade Kenny Pickett away. OK, I will say almost no chance, or better yet I will quote Mike Tomlin: ‘You never say never, but, never.’ Pickett is going to get one more season here at the very least.”
And then less than 24 hours after that was posted, Pickett is headed to the Eagles and the Steelers got a few extra draft picks out of the deal. So much for that theory.
I wasn’t the only one in town who was wrong. I thought Pickett was Tomlin’s guy, and I thought he was going to get every opportunity to compete with Russell Wilson.
It was obviously clear Wilson was coming in to be the starter, but I thought at the very least Pickett would be given opportunities to prove he can still be the man and he would be waiting in the wings if Wilson falters.
The why has been reported mostly as Pickett wanted out once Wilson was signed because the Steelers were committed to the new guy as the starter. There are also some conspiracy theorists who believe it is opening up a spot for the Steelers to trade for Justin Fields and have Fields spend a year behind Wilson. There are even theories about the Steelers feeling betrayed by some incident in Seattle when Pickett may or may not (depending on whose reports you believe) have refused to suit up as the backup even though he was healthy.
All of that is interesting fodder for talk shows, but it’s not relevant because he is gone now.
Pickett needed to go somewhere else and the Steelers needed to move on from Pickett. I have no idea how it happened, but somehow Pickett became one of the most polarizing figures in Pittsburgh sports over the past year. I just don’t think there was any path back for him other than playing out of his mind and leading the Steelers to a Super Bowl.
Pickett needed a fresh, clean start. He needed to get away from all the ridiculous expectations that come with being a first-round pick in the same city where you played college ball. I am of the belief Pickett can be a good NFL quarterback in the right situation, but for whatever reason it went off the rails with the Steelers and he seemed a bit miserable by the end of the season as the whole city cheered his backup, Mason Rudolph.
In going to Philadelphia, he will be able to sit behind Jalen Hurts with absolutely no pressure on him. He can refocus and get his career back on track. And if Pickett is ready to play when his number is called — Hurts does get injured a bit — he will put himself back in the conversation as a potential starter when his rookie contract is up.
Pickett is great person, was a team player and loved the Steelers, so there should be no animosity. He needed a clean slate, and now he has it.
As for the Steelers, the best thing that could happen for them was to put the entire Matt Canada offensive era behind them for good. Canada was fired during the season and all three quarterbacks from the roster have either moved on in free agency or been traded. There is no stench left in the quarterback room of that era, and now the Steelers can rebuild their room behind Wilson, who is clearly a short-timer just keeping the seat warm for a year.
The Steelers did Pickett a favor by trading him and they also did themselves a favor because now they are no longer going to have to force themselves to make it work with him just because he was a firstround pick.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette