Pittsburgh media just can't stop talking about Kenny Pickett

Kenny Pickett's Steelers career did not go according to plan. The former first-round pick was doomed to fail as a local product who, frankly, should not have been drafted that high by Kevin Colbert.

Add in that Pickett was forced to play under a defensive head coach and Matt Freaking Canada, of all offensive coordinators, and it's easy to see why the braintrust in Pittsburgh was so high on a player who is a backup quarterback at best.

I wasn't always this low on Pickett, I'll admit. When the Steelers drafted him I was a little puzzled but also thrilled that a Pitt product -- my own alma mater -- could be the team's quarterback of the future. Unfortunately that never came to be, and now the city's media conglomerate can't help but pile on. It doesn't help that most of the metro area has roots in Happy Valley, either.

Pittsburgh media decided Kenny Pickett was a problem

Whether it's Mark Madden's 'reporting' surrounding the Seattle game, or countless jokes about Pickett's small hands, it's brutally-obvious the Steelers media isn't used to covering a quarterback not named Ben Roethlisberger. In towns like Cleveland, New York or even Detroit prior to Jared Goff, a few seasons of poor quarterback play is to be expected before finding a new face of the franchise.

Roethlisberger's off-field issues were disgraceful, yes, but on the field he was a two-time Super Bowl winner and future Hall of Famer. Pickett, like the majority of quarterbacks in the modern NFL, cannot compete with that. Pittsburgh was spoiled for nearly two decades, and now must settle for scraps like the rest of the league's landscape.

Kenny Pickett analogy used to describe...the Penguins?

In a story about the Pittsburgh Penguins' failure to make the NHL Playoffs, noted Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Joe Starkey compared Tristan Jarry's inconsistency to that of Pickett.

"Pickett was cleared to play the next game, in Seattle, albeit late in the week. If you’re the guy, you could be cleared Sunday morning and you’re playing the biggest game of the year. Ben Roethlisberger unquestionably starts that game, even if he’s limping," Starkey wrote.

Other than the obvious issues in comparing Pickett to Jarry -- the latter has made an All-Star team and is far more talented -- this reads like just another chance to bring Pickett to the forefront, and an unnecessary one at that. Breaking news: Pickett is not a Hall-of-Fame QB.

Yes, Pickett could've handled his departure better, but it's unfair to insinuate he ever gave up on his team. The Steelers and Pickett did each other little favors, and a young quarterback needs much to go right to succeed. Pickett never got that.

Starkey goes on to compare Penguins backup goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to Mason Rudolph, thus explaining why Pittsburgh should rid themselves of their starting goaltender. The argument itself isn't necessarily flawed, but when lumped in with a local media landscape that has continuously thrown Pickett under the bus, at some point we just have to move on.