Steelers: What are the best and worst outcomes for Kenny Pickett?

Entering his second year in the league, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett has some promise, but there are some questions about his overall viability as their long-term answer at the quarterback position.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon put together a list of quarterbacks in similar situations, highlighting the best and worst outcomes for them this season. Justin Fields, Brock Purdy, and Jordan Love are other young quarterbacks who end up on this list and like Pickett, have large levels of variance in their potential outcomes.

Best outcome

The positive end of the spectrum is fairly obvious. Gagnon notes that it would be “Kenny Pickett takes the next step.“. There is a world where that happens, and Pickett even showed signs of improvement as the season went on. With that said, evaluating that stretch at the end of the year requires a level of caution. It is very easy to buy into a player who plays well against losing teams at the end of the year. Pittsburgh six of Pickett’s eight final starts of the year (seven of nine total and four-straight to end the season), with the Steelers’ rookie quarterback completing 59.4% of his passes for five touchdowns and one interception. This is not the greatest stat line, but finding a way to win is what matters most, and he was able to do that down the stretch for Pittsburgh.

Worst outcome

As far as the worst case goes, “Pickett fails, but the defense still helps the team win a bunch of games.“. This would be pretty rough for a Steelers organization that used a first-round draft pick for the first time since drafting Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. There have been several quarterbacks taken after round one, such as Landry Jones, Mason Rudolph, and Josh Dobbs, but they were nothing special. As constructed, Pittsburgh is a team that can win with average to below-average play at the quarterback position, but obviously, the preference is that he is significantly better than that.

The Steelers will find out rather quickly if they have a quarterback who is capable of making the leap in year two. Teams will have plenty of tape to work from to adjust their approach to making Pickett’s job more difficult. It will be up to the Steelers, and Pickett, to make their own secondary adjustments to find a way to at least be serviceable, if not a good NFL quarterback. There is a world where the latter exists, even though the former is what most expect.