Following Kenny Pickett’s disappointing second season in the NFL, there have already been some calls for the Pittsburgh Steelers to move on from him.
However, one of his teammates with influence in the locker room thinks it’s too early to judge Pickett.
“The scrutiny already for a quarterback is insane,” defensive tackle and team captain Cameron Heyward said February 7 on Sirius XM’s “Ferrall Coast to Coast.” “You’ll get guys who have never played saying that a quarterback should be this. And then if they’re not Pat Mahomes, as soon as they step on the field, they’re inconsistent.
“I think Kenny can be a heck of a quarterback in this league,” Heyward said. “For people to write him off right now I think is [crazy].”
The Case for Late Bloomers
Recent examples have proved that giving up on quarterbacks too quickly could lead to big missed opportunities.
Geno Smith, a second-round pick in 2013, is the biggest example. After struggling for two years as the starter for bad Jets teams in 2013 and 2014, Smith was benched. He waited seven years to get another chance as a starter. Now the Seattle Seahawks are paying him $25 million per year after he took them to the playoffs in 2022.
Baker Mayfield was the first overall pick for the Browns in 2018. In his third year in the league, he helped them end a 17-year playoff drought. Two years later, they gave him away to the Panthers after making a huge trade for Deshaun Watson.
After a rough year where he was cut by the Panthers and finished the year with a struggling Rams team, Mayfield got another chance with the Buccaneers.
He has now won one more playoff game than the Browns since their split.
Even Mason Rudolph finished 2023 surprisingly well for the Steelers after nearly not ending up on a roster for the season.
“If the Steelers learned anything this year from Rudolph, it is that you can’t write off a player based on a small sample and unusual obstacles that he faced,” The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly wrote in a January 19 story.
Kenny Pickett’s ‘Last Chance’ With the Steelers
In his end-of-season press conference, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Pickett would be Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback in 2024, adding that there “would be competition” for the job.
In 24 starts across two years, Pickett has the same number of interceptions as touchdowns (13) while completing 62.6% of his passes. His 62% completion percentage in 2023 ranked him 29th in the league.
According to Steelers Depot’s Joe Clark, “2024 is going to be Pickett’s last chance.”
Clark wrote that quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan will give Pickett the “continuity he so desperately needs.”
However, Clark wrote, if Pickett “can’t turn it around in Year Three, the Steelers are going to explore alternative options to find their quarterback of the future.”
Given the Steelers’ long history of winning — Tomlin has not had a losing season since becoming coach in 2007 — the pressure to perform was on Pickett from the second he became starter.
Still, even though Pickett’s “second-year jump never happened,” Kaboly wrote, “it was the right decision … or should I say the only decision that could’ve been made.”
Tomlin also acknowledged the third-year pressure on Pickett.
“Certainly it’s a big year for him,” Tomlin said. “We met this morning, and we acknowledged that. It is a huge year for him. But I’m also excited about just watching him wear that component of it because I know how he’s wired and built, and I’m excited about watching him attack it.”
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Steelers Captain Says Kenny Pickett Is Being Judged Too Quickly