This weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance to keep their offseason from starting early for a second consecutive season.
That hasn’t stopped football fans from already beginning to speculate about what the future holds for the team at quarterback.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Steelers aren’t looking to make a big change.
While appearing on “NFL Gameday Kickoff” before the Week 18 matchup between the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, Rapoport revealed the team still has confidence in Kenny Pickett and doesn’t want to move on from him.
“Despite the fact that Mason Rudolph is going [today], my understanding is the organization does still believe in Kenny Pickett and in no way wants to move on from him after the season. Still a ton of confidence that he can be a franchise starter. It’s really just a matter of playing right now the quarterback that gives them the best chance.”
From @NFLGameDay Kickoff: This offseason, Mason Rudolph shadowed congressmen and senators and spent time at architectural firms and commercial real estate firms — planning for life after football. Now, he’s a starting QB with a chance to send the #Steelers to the playoffs.
A Rough Start to Kenny Pickett’s Career
It’s no secret that Pickett’s career has been disappointing so far.
As a rookie, he threw more interceptions than touchdowns and averaged less than 200 passing yards per game.
This year, he has done a better job of avoiding the big mistakes. He has only thrown 4 interceptions in 12 starts.
However, his more cautious play has also led to more limited production. He is averaging 172.5 yards per game this season and has thrown just 6 touchdown passes in 12 starts.
However, there was a glimmer of hope before his injury.
Former offensive coordinator Matt Canada got a lot of the blame for the unproductive offense before he was fired.
Pickett only played one game after Canada’s firing. He set his season high in passing yards during that game.
That could be enough to convince them that he can be better going forward.
He wouldn’t be the first Steelers QB on this roster to recover from a bad start to his career.
Mason’s Rudolph’s Emergence Could Help Kenny Pickett
While Rudolph’s play has recently relegated Pickett to backup duties, his emergence could also end up helping Pickett keep his job for a couple of reasons.
The first is that the Steelers are actually playing pretty well with Rudolph at QB.
Is he the guy you want to have going up against players like Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson twice a year? No.
However, he has shown that he’s not the worst backup plan for the Steelers to have if they stick with Pickett next year and it doesn’t work out.
The other reason is that Rudolph is further proof that sometimes QBs just need some time to develop.
We’ve seen it a lot over the past couple of years in the NFL.
While teams are often quick to move on from a QB if they produce early, there are some playing good football right now that struggled early in their career.
Geno Smith was awful in his first two years with the Jets. They benched him and he spent the next 7 years as a backup before getting another chance to start. He has the Seahawks on the verge of a second consecutive playoff appearance.
Jordan Love didn’t show much in scattered appearances over the first three seasons of his career. In year 4 he has already reached 30 TDs and is on pace to eclipse 4000 yards in his first full season as a starter.
Jake Browning was waived by the Vikings three years into his career. This year is 3-3 as the starter for the Bengals and is averaging almost 300 passing yards per game.
If the Steelers needed more proof that a bad start to a QB’s career doesn’t have to doom it, they have it under center right now.
In Rudolph’s first action as a starter, he was benched for Devlin Hodges after eight games. Three years later, he had started just two more games and Hodges isn’t even on a roster.
Now Rudolph is 2-0 as a starter with 567 yards and a pair of touchdowns and has gotten the Steelers back in the playoff hunt.
Maybe the Steelers’ patience with Pickett will be rewarded too.
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Insider: Steelers Still Confident in Struggling QB Kenny Pickett Amid Benching