Apr 29, 2022 5 min read

Kenny Pickett, welcome to Pittsburgh.

Wait.

Scratch that.

Kenny Pickett, welcome to a different side of Pittsburgh you didn’t know existed.

The Steelers selected Pickett with the 20th pick in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night, setting off a firestorm of questions and comments from both sides of Steelers fandom.

On one side you had those who were fans of Pickett at Pitt, where he led the Panthers to their most successful season in decades and feel he can be a long-term starter for the Steelers. On the other were those who feel the Steelers shouldn’t have taken a quarterback – any quarterback – in this draft.

Could both be right?

No quarterbacks were selected before the Steelers took Pickett. In fact, no other quarterback was selected in the first round of this draft.

That doesn’t mean all of the NFL talent evaluators were right. It just means this wasn’t the strongest of quarterback classes.

But we knew that entering this draft.

That said, the Steelers felt Pickett was the best of the bunch, taking his high floor – he was the most NFL-ready player at the position – over the potential long-term upside of some of the other players, most notably Liberty’s Malik Willis.

“We talked about his high floor, and the high floor was because of the intangibles but also the anticipation and the pro accuracy were very obvious and consistent when studying his tape,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

Willis has the highest-ceiling of any quarterback in this draft. He also might have the lowest floor – otherwise known as bust potential.

And the Steelers obviously weren’t interested in that. They wanted a player who almost surely could be a long-term starter for them, even if Pickett’s ceiling is that of a mid-level NFL starter.

Plenty of mid-level NFL starters have success in the NFL. Jimmy Garoppolo took the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl a few years ago and had them within a game of going back last season.

Can Pickett do the same with the Steelers? Perhaps.

If he doesn’t, however, and Willis or one of the other quarterbacks in this draft turns into a star, the Steelers and Pickett will hear about it. The Steelers had their choice of quarterbacks in this draft after all.

• When you don’t have a returning starter at quarterback, it’s never bad business to take a chance at the position. And keep drafting them until you find a star.

If Pickett turns into an average NFL quarterback, in a couple of years, the Steelers almost certainly can trade him to another team who is below average at the position. That’s the beauty of taking quarterbacks in the draft. If they can play at all, they’re tradeable commodities.

• Tomlin said Pickett will be given an opportunity to compete for the starting job in 2022. If he becomes their starting quarterback, then the Steelers made the right pick.

He’ll have to beat out Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph to do so.

If he doesn’t, this was a wasted pick in many ways.

Had they not taken Pickett, they could have lived with Trubisky this season, even if he wasn’t great, and been in position next season to draft a quarterback. And if Trubisky plays well, they wouldn’t need to bring in a new quarterback early next year.

That tells me Tomlin isn’t paying lip service to giving Pickett a chance to start this season.

• This was only the fourth time in the modern era – since 1970 – the Steelers have taken a quarterback in the first round.

The others were Terry Bradshaw in 1970, Mark Malone in 1980 and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. So, the Steelers were due.

Two of those worked out well, winning a combined six Super Bowls. The other? Not so much.

• Trubisky’s ceiling is thought to be that of, say, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins. That wouldn’t be terrible.

His floor is being a journeyman starter such as Teddy Bridgewater. That wouldn’t be so great.

That’s where the differences come with Willis. Willis could be a Lamar Jackson-type talent. Or, he could never play at all.

The Steelers obviously didn’t want to roll the dice and see.

• Hey, here’s hoping it all works out. The Steelers passed on the last great Pitt quarterback, Dan Marino, back in 1983 and have regretted it since.

Pickett isn’t Marino – one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history – to be sure, but it is tough to pass on a player who was right in your back yard.

The Steelers didn’t get that chance with the past few great Pitt players, Darrel Revis, Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald. All three were gone when the Steelers picked in their respective drafts.

That’s not why the Steelers took Pickett, but it is an added bonus.

Then again, the last time they took a former Pitt player in the first round it was guard Tom Ricketts in 1989.

That didn’t work out so well.