Steelers: 3 reasons Kenny Pickett should start right away
By John Buhler
The Pittsburgh Steelers picked Kenny Pickett No. 20 overall for a reason in the 2022 NFL Draft.
It is a new era of Pittsburgh Steelers football with former Pitt star Kenny Pickett at quarterback.
The Steelers took Pickett No. 20 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft with every intention of him being the next face of the franchise. With Ben Roethlisberger having just hung up the spikes, Pittsburgh is hoping the team does not skip a beat amidst their quarterbacking regime change. Pickett is coming off a sensational season at Pitt. The question is if he can ever hold a candle to Big Ben.
Here is why the Steelers need to be all-in on starting Pickett from the jump beginning in Week 1.
Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 reasons why Kenny Pickett has to be the Week 1 starter
3. The last thing the Steelers will want is to open the door for Mitchell Trubisky
While there is reason to believe Mitchell Trubisky can have success playing quarterback for the Steelers, does Pittsburgh really want to open that can of worms with Pickett already on the roster? In a weird way, Pickett already has a leg up on the offense over Trubisky, as Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada used to be employed by the Pittsburgh Panthers previously.
So even if Trubisky learns the playbook fairly quickly because he is a professional, the Steelers are too smart of a football team to put themselves in a stupid Matt Nagy era Chicago Bears quarterbacking conundrum. Not starting Justin Fields right away created more problems that not for the Bears. Trubisky is better than Andy Dalton, but what is the end game in all of this really?
Sure, Trubisky is incredibly athletic and plays his best ball when the pocket collapses and he must scramble to the right. He can win games with a defensive-minded team like the Steelers, but there is a limited ceiling to what he can do as a downfield passer. In the short-term, the Steelers can win with him. In the medium-term, potentially. But as for the long-term, it is not a sustainable model.
Unless Trubisky plays infinitely better than him in fall camp, Pickett has to be the Week 1 starter.