This spring, the Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the NFL world by trading former first-round quarterback Kenny Pickett. Most fans believed that, while he struggled in his first two seasons, Pickett would get an opportunity to prove himself under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Once Russell Wilson came into the picture, Pickett wanted nothing to do with that. Now, he’s playing second fiddle to Jalen Hurts in Philly. Interesting how that played out.
In his pre-camp power rankings for Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio had Pittsburgh at No. 14 — sandwiched between the two L.A. teams, two spots below the Cleveland Browns.
Florio had this to say about how addition by subtraction should work for the Steelers this season:
They blew up the depth chart at the quarterback position, dumping 2022 first-rounder Kenny Pickett along the way. That alone will make them better in 2024.
Wilson was first on the scene, shortly followed by Justin Fields — via a trade with the Chicago Bears — something few saw happening after the Chase Claypool debacle.
Say what you want about Wilson, but he’s a proven winner. And rarely is there a better situation than signing a quarterback with a giant chip on his shoulder. Wilson wants to reinvent himself, and Pittsburgh needs him to be successful.
It remains to be seen how +Wilson, Fields/-Pickett will affect the Steelers and how their opponents will view them going forward. But as Florio said, they’re bound to be better purely because they no longer have Pickett as the signal-caller.
