Kenny Pickett taking more ‘ownership’ of Steelers offense during training camp
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In his first training camp, as a rookie quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kenny Pickett was content on being conservative with his pass attempts, opting to check down to a running back if his first receiving option wasn’t open.
With a year that included 12 starts in his back pocket, Pickett’s confidence in waiting to find an open receiver is evident on the practice fields of Saint Vincent this summer. He’s not as quick to unload the ball, preferring to go through his reads and execute the play that is designed.
Such is the progression Pickett has made as he prepares for his first full season as an NFL starter.
“I have more ownership of the offense this year,” Pickett said earlier in the week. “I understand the looks I need to see. I take the shots down the field. I think we saw a good amount of them (in the first week of camp), and it’s something I want to continue to build on.
“If the shots are there, we’re going to take them.”
For fans, that is a welcome approach given the cautious nature of the Steelers offense last season — before and after Pickett became the starter in Week 5. Perhaps that display was understandable considering the Steelers were amid their first year with Ben Roethlisberger in retirement.
The Steelers entered training camp last year with a so-called quarterback competition. In reality, the job was veteran Mitch Trubisky’s to lose. And he held onto it until halftime of the Week 4 game against the New York Jets when he was benched in favor of Pickett.
At this time a year ago, Pickett was still working with the third-team offense, losing backup snaps to Mason Rudolph. But playing well in the preseason, Pickett did enough to move past Rudolph on the depth chart at the outset of the regular season.
Still, he didn’t get any significant snaps with the first-team offense until he replaced Trubisky.
“I’m a lot more comfortable than last season,” Pickett said. “I think we did a good job in the spring of building on things. They’ve showed out there the first week how smoothly we’ve been running. There were no (missed assignments), guys were where they needed to be, and I thought it was a pretty good script for the first week.”
Wide receiver Diontae Johnson has noticed a difference in Pickett’s play and demeanor as the Steelers reach the midpoint of their training at Saint Vincent. Johnson views it as a byproduct of the 25-year-old quarterback taking all of the first-team snaps since the start of offseason workouts. In prior years, at the later stages of Roethlisberger’s career, he would take every third day off from practice during the preseason, and he also skipped some spring workouts.
“It’s being out there with him and getting that timing down,” Johnson said. “It builds chemistry and him being comfortable with his guys. It gives him the ability to play free, and it allows us to do what we do.”
How quickly Pickett has grasped offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s system has caught the attention of Trubisky, who returns in a backup role this year.
“We’re putting a lot of stuff in. We have a lot of offense in for this time of the year, which is impressive,” Trubisky said. “He’s got it down, he’s making great decisions and he’s throwing the ball really well.”
It helped Pickett’s cause that his two starting wide receivers — Johnson and George Pickens — are in the prime of their careers. And that the Steelers, after trading Chase Claypool at midseason in 2022, added a veteran in Allen Robinson in the offseason.
“Kenny is very skilled,” Robinson said. “It’s about seeing the maturity of a second-year guy, seeing the command that he has had and being able to get us (going) play-in and play-out and having that confidence coming into the huddle. It’s getting us right and making sure everybody is where they should be. For a second-year guy, he’s head and shoulders over a lot (of people).”
Pickett has taken steps to get young players such as rookie tight end Darnell Washington and second-year receiver Calvin Austin, who spent all of his rookie season on injured reserve, involved in the offense, whether it’s during team periods or individual passing sessions.
It’s the type of leadership that is expected from a quarterback – even one with such little time as an NFL starter.
“Kenny harps on us about details,” Johnson said. “That’s what we’re focusing on, and we’re out there talking all the time about it, just so we don’t have those mental errors or mistakes.”
The true test won’t come until Pickett appears in a preseason game, which could come as early as Friday night at Tampa Bay in the exhibition opener.
“We’ll see,” coach Mike Tomlin said, trying to downplay expectations for Pickett. “He needs to be what we need him to be. I know that he’s preparing with that mindset, and I like his approach and his demeanor in that regard. But I think whether you’re talking about guys like quarterbacks or guys like me as a head coach, we need to be what our team needs us to be.”