By Ray Porter Jr.
The expected and the unexpected happened with the Pittsburgh Steelers QBs on Friday:
- The Expected: The team officially welcomed veteran QB Russell Wilson as he signed his 1-year contract and addressed the media at his introductory news conference.
- The Unexpected: 2022 first-round pick QB Kenny Pickett was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.
It was assumed that Wilson would be a veteran presence to Pickett, who was expected to bounce back from an injury that caused him to miss the rest of the 2023 season (along with the ‘hot hand’ of QB Mason Rudolph) and with GM Omar Khan’s vote of confidence for Pickett (and the departure of Rudolph and veteran Mitch Trubisky) no one would’ve expected the Steelers to trade Pickett.
But as we’ve learned thus far, Khan believes in performing the unexpected as earlier this week, he traded veteran WR Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers.
In his two-year career with the Steelers, Pickett went 14-10 in 24 starts and completed 62.6% of his attempts for 4,474 yards. He also threw 13 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. He also spent 6 seasons at the University of Pittsburgh, in which he was a 2021 Heisman Trophy Finalist.
In 2022, Pickett started the season backing up Trubisky until he replaced the Veteran in the Steelers Week 4 game against the Jets. He would remain the starter the rest of that season, leading the Steelers to several come-from-behind- victories. But in 2023, Pickett struggled to begin the season mostly attributed to the Steelers’ offensive challenges under former Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada.
After Canada left, Pickett had an impressive win against the Cincinnati Bengals, but after an injury vs the Arizona Cardinals, Pickett would not play the rest of the season.
Pickett joins an Eagles team that’s been very active in free agency as they signed All-Pro RB Saquon Barkley from the NY Giants. He will backup franchise QB Jalen Hurts.
Notes: An excited Wilson greeted the media at his introductory news conference: “First of all, super grateful to be here, obviously to be a Pittsburgh Steeler. It’s a great tradition. To be able to compete and be able to go to work with these guys every single day is the gift of this game. Enjoying the process of it all. The reason I wanted to come here is because I wanted to win championships with Coach [Mike]Tomlin and the guys in the locker room.”
Here is a list of the Steelers’ Free Agent signings: QB Russell Wilson, LB Patrick Queen, S DeShon Elliott, P Cameron Johnston, and WR Van Jefferson. They also re-signed DT Montravious Adams and Long Snapper Christian Kuntz.
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