Steelers Rumors: Kenny Pickett hyperbole, trade candidate, surprise cut decision

Steelers Rumors: Kenny Pickett earns hyperbolic praise at QB

Kenny Pickett is coming off an impressive rookie campaign for the Steelers. He led the team to a 7-5 record under center, completing 63 percent of his 389 pass attempts for 2,404 yards, seven touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

He has only built on the hype with a strong training camp and preseason. Pickett looks fully ready to lead the next chapter of Steelers football in the wake of Big Ben's retirement. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, in a recent episode of NFL on NBC, waxed poetic about Pickett's ascent. Maybe a little too poetic.

"As soon as Roethlisberger ascended into football heaven after that Monday night against [the] Browns, they went straight to work on getting their replacement,” said Florio. “They got him in Kenny Pickett. And they didn’t get desperate, they didn’t have to trade up for him. Everyone knew they were going to take Kenny Pickett and they sat there, and they waited for Kenny Pickett to be handed down to them by the football gods the same way the football gods accepted Ben Roethlisberger up into the pantheon of kind of all-time greats.

Hey, Kenny Pickett's awesome. He continues to operate with impressive poise and accuracy in the pocket. He's a genuine franchise building block, the kind a team dreams of with a late first-round pick. Pickett played his college ball right down the street at Pitt, received a little tough love from Roethlisberger, then took off running with the starting gig midseason.

It's hard not to get a little romantic about it.

Of course, we should probably give him a full second-season test run before we break out phrases like "handed to them by the football gods." Pickett tossed more picks than TDs last season. He was far from flawless and the preseason can only provide us with so much insight on a player's ability.

There's every reason to believe Pickett is the real deal. If you're in the Mike Florio camp, however, it sounds like he's already well on his way to the Hall of Fame.