As young QBs across league get benched, Steelers rookie Kenny Pickett stays course

On a day in which two of the NFL’s other youngest starting quarterbacks were benched, Kenny Pickett expressed a steadfast confidence that he’s on track to be the longtime franchise QB for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“It’s having high expectations and continuing to work every day,” Pickett said after practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “I’ll get to where I want to be and where I can be.”

Pickett was speaking within hours of word breaking from New York and Houston that the coaches of the Jets and Texans were switching to Mike White and Kyle Allen, respectively, to replace 2021 high draft picks Zach Wilson and Davis Mills.

With those two now on the bench, the New England Patriots’ Mac Jones and Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence are the only remaining 2022 starters among the top eight quarterbacks selected in the 2021 draft.

When it comes to this year’s rookies, Pickett has more starts to this point — his seventh will come Monday at the Indianapolis Colts — than the remainder of his QB draft class combined (five — two each by Bailey Zappe and Mailk Willis, one by Skylar Thompson).

“I’m feeling better and better each week,” Pickett said. “Obviously, the more you play in the system, the more comfortable you get. So, I like the way I’m progressing and where I’m headed. We’ve just got some small things to clean up and if we get those cleaned up, we feel like it’d be a different game on Sunday. But we didn’t get it done, so that’s on us to get it fixed for Monday night.”

Pickett on his development pic.twitter.com/NjKYGz5qM1

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 23, 2022

Among 35 qualifying quarterbacks this season, Pickett is dead last in passer rating (71.8) and TD percentage (1.3% of his throws), and he is 34^th in yards per attempt (6.0) and yards per completion (9.2). Despite him playing only 60% of the Steelers’ quarters, Pickett has more interceptions (eight) than all but three NFL quarterbacks. Two of those ahead of him (Mills and the Colts’ Matt Ryan) have been benched this season (albeit Ryan since won his job back).

Pickett is 28^th in QBR (46.7) and 15^th in completion percentage (65.4%).

Still, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin this week said Pickett was “getting better in all areas.” Pickett has not thrown an interception in any of his past two starts, and his aggregate passer rating and QBR are better in that span than in any two-game stretch he’s played yet this season.

“It’s moving in the direction that we would like it to,” Tomlin said of Pickett’s development. “Sure, could it move faster? Absolutely. I don’t think anybody is patient, including Kenny. This is not a patient man’s business. You work while you wait, and that’s what he and we are doing. But he’s doing a nice job just in general.”

The Steelers are 2-5 in games Pickett plays, 2-4 in his starts and 1-4 during games he starts and finishes. But Pickett set career highs for yards per attempt, passer rating, QBR and points produced during this past week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Like his coach, Pickett acknowledges growth in his game and in that of the Steelers’ offense.

“I think we’ve definitely have taken a step in the right direction,” Pickett said, “but the ultimate goal is to win. So, that’s what we have to figure out and do whatever we have to do to get that final result, because we can talk about progress and that we’re heading in the right direction, but that’s all that matters.”

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