The Kenny Pickett era in Pittsburgh ended prior to the 2024-25 NFL regular season. For former Steelers quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, it is a battle he is still fighting. Bradshaw struggled to start his own career in Pittsburgh, and if Chuck Noll and the Rooney family had moved on from the Louisiana kid, they surely wouldn't have won four Super Bowls that decade. While playing the waiting game made sense for the Steelers and Bradshaw, it's not how the league works anymore.
In Pickett's case specifically, there was little evidence he had turned a corner. Not all of that is his fault – Pittsburgh trusted Matt Canada, one of the worst offensive coordinators in recent NFL history, to oversee Pickett's development – but the Pitt product did little to give Mike Tomlin and his coaching staff hope for the future. So, they cut ties the first chance they got.
“I liked Kenny Pickett,” Bradshaw said. “I liked him at Pitt. I know him. I know what he’s like. When they got him to Pittsburgh, they didn’t protect him, they didn’t get him an offensive line. They wanted to run the football, but they didn’t have an offensive line that could protect, and they didn’t have weapons. He had no wide receivers to speak of... Therefore, they’re saying Kenny Pickett is a failure. He wasn’t a failure, the Steelers were a failure.”
Terry Bradshaw is both right and wrong about the Steelers and Kenny Pickett
The correct answer is a little bit of both, frankly. Pickett is not a starting-caliber quarterback. The Browns will find this out the hard way in 2025 if they start him in the vaunted AFC North. However, as we mentioned, Tomlin and Canada never fully believed in Pickett, and thus did not invest enough in his development. Canada never should've been given the keys in this case, but that would've forced Tomlin to hire a halfway-decent offensive coordinator and get out the way, which we know he is not about.
Tomlin prefers proven, veteran passers. He likes to know what he's getting himself into, even if the finished product might not be as pretty. This explains a mid-30's Russell Wilson, and an early-40's Aaron Rodgers. They're a used Toyota Camry, but they still run just fine. The issue becomes when Tomlin's high-powered defense is forced to stop the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow in his own conference.
Kenny Pickett was never going to be the next great Steelers QB
Tomlin's defense can only do so much – and in those cases, not enough – and Pittsburgh's offense cannot keep up. That is why they took a chance on Pickett in the first place despite his third-round grade. They wanted another corvette, and Pickett surely is not that.
Pickett could've had Noll and an excellent offensive coordinator at his disposal, and it only would've made so much difference. Perhaps the Steelers could've turned Pickett into a mid-tier starter with more time, but by now we know what he is. The ceiling isn't high enough, and Pickett will never rev his engine.