The Pittsburgh Steelers' roster at the start of the 2024 season looks dramatically different from what it was in 2023. The biggest difference comes at the quarterback position. General Manager Omar Khan completely revamped the room as he brought in Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, and Kyle Allen during the 2024 offseason. This is obviously much different than the group from 2023 which included Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, and Mason Rudolph.
The most shocking quarterback move Pittsburgh made during the 2024 offseason was trading Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles. Pickett was the organization's first round pick during the 2022 NFL Draft, and Steelers were quick to part ways as they dealt him before his third season. There were a lot of high hopes for Pickett going into the 2023 season, but it was quickly seen that he wasn't who fans had hoped he would be. Current Steelers offensive lineman, Dylan Cook, recently appeared on a podcast from Skyline Sports where he discussed Pickett in Pittsburgh.
"I get to Pittsburgh and there's none of that going on. Like Kenny, he just didn't, it didn't help with the offense we were running, but it just wasn't clicking for him."
Cook came to Pittsburgh after spending the 2022 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which happened to be Tom Brady's last season in the NFL. He got to see how the best to ever do it acted and prepared for games, and it was the complete opposite for Pickett in Pittsburgh. Obviously, a quarterback in his second season isn't going to have the same confidence and regiment as Brady, but Cook shared that the drop off was severe.
Cook made sure to note that the offense the team was running didn't do Pickett any favors. Former Offensive Coordinator, Matt Canada was in Pittsburgh for too long, and rarely did his offense yield any positive results. Pittsburgh fired him in the middle of the season, and moved on from Pickett later on, proving both were at fault for the offense's shortcomings.
Pickett hasn't found much success with the Eagles either. It was obvious he would be the backup to Jalen Hurts, but he looked shaky at best during the preseason and was even at risk of being demoted to third-string. The quarterback has been heavily criticized in Pittsburgh, but there is a chance he is able to find a career resurgence elsewhere once he finds his next home in the NFL.
Steelers' Dylan Cook Describes The Drop Off In QB Play When Arriving In Pittsburgh
Cook spent the 2022 season on the practice squad in Tampa Bay, but he still spent a lot of time around Brady and got to see how the quarterback operated. He shared multiple anecdotes of Brady running their offensive line meetings, describing what kind of protections he wanted to see when going up against certain defensive looks. Cook didn't get any of that in Pittsburgh, which is expected since he arrived shortly before the start of Pickett's second season.
"It was nuts, like to see the highest level of that and then to come to Pittsburgh and see a young guy in Kenny Pickett was indescribable. Like the amount I learned in the drop off from the top to just a young guy trying to make it was crazy."
This is expected, but as a first round pick, Pickett should have shown some sliver of promise and leadership going into his second season in the league - especially when operating in the same offensive system as his first season. Cook described that it just never quite clicked for the former Steelers quarterback, which is likely a big reason he finds himself on track to be a backup for the rest of his career.
