It’s hard to believe that with everything Kenny Pickett did for the Pitt Panthers football program, he’s somehow developed into a polarizing sports figure in Pittsburgh.
Yes, despite being loyal to Pitt for five seasons, leading the Panthers to their first ACC title and putting the football program on the map for a season or two by earning a spot as a Heisman finalist, football fans in town have a serious dislike for Pickett.
That became very evident when a “Pitt in the Pros” highlight at a Pitt game this season was booed by a portion (not all) of the crowd when Pickett was shown. The fact that anyone would boo is ridiculous, but that’s the price you pay for being a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I didn’t believe it at the time, but I do now: the worst thing to ever happen to Pickett was being drafted by the Steelers. Not that he couldn’t take it mentally, but the unrealistic expectations from an NFL fan base, especially from the Steelers, was nearly impossible for anyone.
I’m going to be very transparent, and I’m sure the comments from readers will let me hear about this, but I’m a huge fan of Kenny Pickett personally and as a player, and I’m not going to apologize for that.
With that being said, I’m not going to try and tell you that he was great with the Steelers because, obviously, he wasn’t. Did he have some shortcomings? Of course he did.
But as I tried to explain with some of my tweets, which got construed as me sticking up for him, the Steelers had many issues, and he wasn’t one of the top ones.
However, everyone wants and expects an athlete, especially a first round pick, to be perfect and great from Day 1.
That’s one of the reasons so many first-round quarterbacks don’t work out, because of pressure on coaches to win and pressure from the fan base, very few teams are willing to be patient with quarterbacks. The mindset today is that a player has two, sometimes three, years to produce and if you’re not winning or putting up gaudy stats, you’ll get replaced.
That was certainly the case with Pickett and the Steelers.
Before I go on, let me repeat, no, he wasn’t great, but he was far from terrible and was made the scapegoat for the Steelers’ offensive struggles.
Instead of having a brain and taking into account:
- Pickett’s offensive coordinator, who was eventually fired, was awful
- Pickett’s offensive line was pathetic, as evidenced by the Steelers’ efforts to improve it this past offseason
- Aside from George Pickens, who’s a complete headcase and a cancer, the Steelers had zero offensive weapons at wide receiver
- The Steelers running backs were pedestrian
Other than that, the Steelers coaching staff and front office did a tremendous job trying to take care of their first-round quarterback. Obviously, it wasn’t intentional, but the Steelers set Pickett up to fail.
So, after just two seasons, Pickett was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles to serve as a backup to All-Pro quarterback Jalen Hurts. For the entire season, Pickett stood on the sidelines and occasionally got into a game late with the outcome already decided.
But that changed last week when Hurts left the game with a concussion, which would also sideline him today against the Dallas Cowboys.
This wasn’t going to be a meaningless game at the end of the season. With a win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles would clinch the NFC East. So, despite having very little playing time, the pressure was on Pickett.
That proved not to be a problem because as Eagles star Saquon Barkley said before the game, Pickett prepared every week like he was the starter, which impressed the Eagles organization and his teammates.
Something else that impressed his teammates was that after the game today, it was revealed that Pickett played today with broken ribs, which occurred last week against Washington. Unfortunately, Pickett was forced to leave today’s game late in the third quarter after re-injuring the ribs, after taking a big hit on a touchdown pass that was called back.
Before having to exit the game with those broken ribs, Pickett played an excellent three quarters and looked nothing like a backup as he went 10 of 15 for 143 yards and two touchdowns (one passing and one rushing). Keep in mind that a beautiful touchdown pass to A.J. Brown was called back, due to holding. Let me repeat that he played with broken ribs. That will impress teams and coaches.
Pickett looked anything like a scrub and that’s not surprising considering the talent he was surrounded by.
As President of the Kenny Pickett Fan Club (only somewhat of a joke), I’m not going to ramble on anymore and will end this by saying:
I realize it’s only one start, but I still believe that Kenny Pickett has the talent to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. I also believe that because he was a former first round pick, at some point, another team will give him a shot to show that.
Let me remind you of a couple of guys that like Pickett, were labeled as busts before going to franchises with a competent offensive coordinator and offensive weapons. Now, both Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold are in line to earn big money this coming offseason.
Will Pickett’s career flip like Mayfield and Darnold’s did? I’m not sure. If he goes to the right situation, I wouldn’t bet against him and give up on him like so many have.
Hopefully, today was the start of Pickett’s resurrection in the NFL.
