Steelers’ Kenny Pickett Era Ends With Trade to Philadelphia Eagles

The Kenny Pickett era has come to an end for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pickett had spent most of the last two seasons as the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh but struggled and was eventually left on the bench in favor for Mason Rudolph at the end of the 2023 season.

That left fans wanting the team to bring in an upgrade during the 2024 offseason.

The upgrade came in the form of a one-year deal with nine-time Pro Bowler Russell Wilson.

Wilson’s introduction on March 15 left plenty of uncertainty about Pickett’s future and whether he would ever start for the Steelers again.

Now those questions have been answered.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Steelers have agreed to trade Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The deal will see the Steelers send Pickett and the 120th pick in this year’s NFL draft in exchange for the 98th pick in the draft and two seventh-round picks in 2025.

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A Bad Pick for the Steelers

The Steelers headed into the 2022 NFL offseason needing a quarterback after Ben Roethlisberger retired.

But that year’s draft class was weak at quarterback. The best options in the class all had issues, including Pickett.

Pickett’s hands got a lot of the attention during his pre-draft process, but the progression of his college career should have been the bigger concern.

He found limited success through the first four years of his career at Pitt. Pickett didn’t throw more than 13 touchdowns in a season in any of those first four years but threw 9 interceptions in two of those seasons.

He also topped out at a completion percentage of 61.6% in those first four years.

Then, as a fifth-year senior, he had a huge season. While throwing to the nation’s best receiver, Pickett threw for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns while bringing his completion percentage up to 67.2%.

The time it took for Pickett to impress in college was a red flag, but the Steelers selected him 20th overall anyway.

In his first two years in the league, he looked a lot more like the player from his first four years in college.

In 25 games, Pickett threw just 13 touchdown passes while also throwing 13 interceptions. He also averaged just 179 passing yards per game in those two seasons.

Pickett was also one of the NFL’s least accurate QBs. He finished 35th in the league in catchable pass percentage in 2023.

Now the Steelers have moved on from Pickett after just two years.

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Kenny Pickett Wasn’t Handling the Situation Well

According to Steelers insider Gerry Dulac, Pickett was “poorly handling” the addition of Wilson. Dulac noted in his March 15 post on X that Pickett didn’t handle it well when he was benched at the end of the 2023 season.

Unfortunately for Pickett, the trade might have put him in an even worse situation.

With the Steelers, he might’ve been able to develop and become the starter again in 2025 after Wilson’s one-year deal expires.

That’s not happening in Philadelphia.

The Eagles are just a year removed from a Super Bowl appearance and have Jalen Hurts playing on a $255 million contract that keeps in Philadelphia at least through the 2027 season.

Pickett will still get the chance back up Hurts, but he is now likely to be at least two years away from being able to compete for a starting job again.

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