Thoughts on Kenny Pickett

Kenny Pickett's career with the Steelers, which is so far halfway through his second season with the team and in the League, has been, at best a mixed bag.  His ability to mount fourth quarter comebacks - he's had six of them in his one and one-half seasons, has been remarkable.  The corollary to that, of course, is that his less than stellar performances in the first three quarters of games have put the Steelers in the position to need comebacks in the fourth quarter.  His passing statistics are, to put a kind face on it, unimpressive.  We are still waiting for that 3 TD/0 INT/300 yards performance in a blow out Steelers win from him.  National commentators have said that "he's not that good", and local sportswriters have been harsh in their criticisms, and talk radio hot take artists want to run him out of town.  Some are even suggesting that the Steelers play Mason Rudolph in his stead.

Criticism of him is fair, but then there are opinions such as this one from a Facebook post from a friend of mine, a fellow whose sports opinions I respect, that he posted in a thread after Thursday's win over the Titans:

As far as Pickett I think he is a middle-of-the-road starter and his replacement is in the draft in the next 2 years. He will make them bowl-eligible the next 2 seasons but not really much more than that. Doubt the playoffs are in his future. 

Here was my response to the gent:

So, you've already assigned Pickett to the scrapheap of mediocrity halfway into his second season? Just wondering if you were saying the same things about Terry Bradshaw midway through the 1971 season, because at that point, he was a hell of a lot worse than Pickett has been thus far.

I don't think that I need to add anything further.  I will also say that I am not suggesting that Pickett will go on to duplicate the career of Terry Bradshaw, but I am suggesting that some people need to tap the brakes a bit before they run Pickett out of town on a rail.

I can remember a time when quarterbacks took two to three years to develop.  Stand next to the coach during games, hold a clipboard, do your work in practice, and wait until you are fully seasoned to get your chance to play.   That philosophy doesn't apply anymore, largely due to economics, salary cap, and the value of contracts to highly drafted rookie QBs.  That doesn't make it any less true that a kid doesn't walk into the NFL and light it up as a QB in his rookie year.  Ben Roethlisberger did, CJ Stroud  appears to be doing it this season, but those guys are exceptions.    Aaron Rodgers sat on the bench behind Brett Favre for three or four seasons, and those of us in Pittsburgh who have been around long enough can remember the struggles of Bradshaw in his first several seasons.  Even in his fifth season, 1974, when the Steelers would win their first Super Bowl, Bradshaw was benched at the beginning of that season in favor of Joe Gilliam.

I admit that the fact that I watched Pickett play at Pitt for his college career and that I really WANT him to succeed as a Steeler is probably coloring my view here, but it is way, way, WAY too soon to, as I said above, "assign him to the scrapheap of mediocrity."  He at least deserves the rest of this season and probably all of next season before we can draw a definitive conclusion on him.  He may indeed become the next Terry or Big Ben, but we know from experience that guys like that come along once every forty years or so.  Or, he might become the next Neil O'Donnell, who, I remind you, took the Steelers to a Super Bowl once.  

Too soon to call him a failure is all that I am saying.