Tomlin sets us back another 5 years... Pickett over Willis

Honestly, I'm not sold on either but Willis has more upside imo. The move was to take Tyler Linderbaum and trade up in the 2nd for Willis. We have a bridge QB to get Willis ready for the pros. Now people are just going to be crying for Pickett to start. O-line is still a mess. This makes 0 sense. If we wanted a poor mans Baker Mayfield we could've went and got Baker Mayfield.

This is 100% Tomlin's decision as well. Colberts last draft. Both QBs there... I bet Colbert said take your guy and he took Pickett. Same guy that wasted a pick on Rudolph when we had Dobbs. Then complains about how he wants mobility at the position. He's terrible at evaluating talent.

 

I doubt he said " take your guy " Tomlin was gushing over Willis at the Combine and his pro day

 

I'm not thrilled with the pick, but to say Willis would have been better is insane. Willis has project written all over him.... basically a poor man's LJ. At least Pickett played against schools that we've heard of in the ACC. I don't understand why Steelers even bothered signing Trubisky. Could've had a good DE at #20.... the weakest area of the Steelers is definitely the D-line. Heyward and Alualu are the only consistent players... and both are old and have a history of season-ending injuries.

 

The worst case scenario for the Steelers brass is for Trubisky to lead the Steelers to a 9-8 record. Not good enough to be a serious contender but not bad enough to pull him as starter. I have a feeling that if Trubisky has a poor game early on and throws 3 picks in a 34-10 loss, Tomlin will be relieved that he can replace him and hand Pickett the reins for the rest of the season.

 

we got Trubisky because no one thought Pickett would be available at 20. But he was so we got him. I know people say not to rush him out there too fast as a starter but I eventually see Pickett starting and Trubisky as an excellent back up.

 

This was absolutely not a Tomlin pick. This was likely a Colbert and Rooney pick. I'm not suggesting Pickett will be better or worse and Malik in the long run. Malik been Tomlins guy since the Sr. Bowl.

 

Maybe Trubisky turns into an all pro, they extend him, and we can trade Pickett and get back some draft capital they wasted. They won't get teir 1st rounder back but perhaps a 2nd or 3rd.

 

At least we wont have to wait 5 years to figure out if Pickett can play. I understand the upside of a player with a massive arm and good speed, but with Willis, we would basically have to teach him the position of Quarterback from scratch. He has no refinement at the position at all, and its beyond a crap shoot on whether or not he will be able to be coached into an NFL QB. It is going to be probably 2 years before a team can feel good about putting him on the field at all without feeling like they are setting him up to fail.

There will be other centers, heck, there will be centers just as good as Linderbaum going in the second and third round of drafts over the course of the next decade. He's a good player, but hardly someone we should be crying about missing out on. We were never going Linderbaum (we never even brought him for a visit). Maybe we got tired of seeing our own smaller, athletic, strong, short-armed center get absolutely mauled last year to consider bringing in a guy that profiles as a similar style player (albeit more refined than Green). I have a feeling that Linderbaum is going to find his fair share of struggles with powerful bull rushers throughout his career as well.

Let's see what we do with the rest of the draft before we give up on Kenny Pickett and lament over which "All-Pro" player that has never played a down in the league we missed out on

 

as of right now, pre-camp, I see Pickett as starting. Pickett is more accurate and a better pure passer than Trubisky. I see Pickett similar to a Derek Carr type and maybe one tier below a Drew Brees, camp will be interesting. Just like that we have a strong QB room.

 

You can’t compete for championships without solid QB play.
You can’t hit home runs if you don’t swing the bat.
You want to play it safe, and hit a single sure draft the center.
You want to hit a homer got take a swing.
In a division with good QBs got have one yourself. They didn’t, they are gonna try and they swung, you just got hope it leaves the park and you don’t strikeout and go back to the bench and have to try again in a few years.

 

Willis may have a little more upside but he also has WAY more downside. Between the two, I'll take Pickett!

Willis will NEVER have the ability to complete passes within the hashes and at multi-levels the way Pickett can. He's obviously a better athlete, but athleticism is not all it takes to be a successful NFL quarterback. Pickett has played in a pro-style offense at Pitt and ran it beautifully. His game translates to the next level much better than any of the QBs in this class and it's not even close!

 

My beef is they went QB at all. As far as who they picked at QB, I think they probably made the best choice available.

However, why go QB at all for 1st pick after picking up Trubisky?

A head scratcher for me. Management acted like they knew something about Pickett that nobody else knew and it was a mistake the other teams passed him by, that they got lucky. We will see who was right in time.

 

I knew chicken little couldn’t resist starting one of his patented doom and gloom threads

 

We can debate Pickett and Willis all day. However, do any of you have faith in the current coaching staff to develop Pickett? Because I don't.

 

IDK. Tomlin seemed awfully excited about the pick on the phone.

I believe what I have always believed. Colbert, Tomlin, and Art all work well together and make picks after coming to a concensus. This year was no different.

 

I know you love to blame Tomlin for everything, but man, are you way off. For one thing, have you watched Pickett? He is mobile. He's not going to break ankles in the open field like Willis did in college, but I'm not sure Willis will do that in the pros, either. Willis did that against low-level competition. Pickett is athletic and he actually has much better pocket presence than Willis. Willis has one thing on Pickett. He has a better arm. That's not nothing, but it doesn't make up for Willis's deficiencies in other areas.

I would have rather had Linderbaum or Hill, but your take is ridiculous.

 

Welcome to the most negative place on the planet ladies and gentlemen!!!!

 

I honestly think this aspect is fine actually. Pickett is familiar with Canada's playbook and there won't be some steep learning curve like if he got drafted elsewhere. He also is very familiar with the coaching staff as a whole. I'm sure Tomlin and the staff works with the Pitt players on the side; the same way Steelers players and former Pitt players do. Aaron Donald and Tyler Boyd are habitually in the SSC during the spring and summer. So yea, I'm confident that due to the lack of the initial learning curve, Pickett can get to work immediately with DJ and company, as well as with the coaches on techniques.

 

Honestly, I'm not even sure Willis is a better athlete. Their speed is comparable. It just doesn't look that way on film because Willis played against much lower-level competition at Liberty. I do love Willis's arm. Who wouldn't? I also think Pickett is going to have some issues with interceptions on deep and intermediate passes early in his career as he adjusts to the speed at which NFL defenders close on the ball, but he's a smart enough player to make that adjustment.

 

Last year everyone bitched because the Steelers took the best running back in the draft in round 1. He ended up being an absolute beast.

This year people are whining that they took the best QB in the draft in round 1. Maybe it works out the exact same way.

I will admit that Willis has a lot of upside. But he also needs a TON of work to be NFL ready. Pickett also has upside and is the most NFL ready QB of this year's crop. The Steelers made a wise selection IMO.

 

That sounds familiar.....

 

Willis is hoping to get to the level where Pickett is now. Look at where Pickett is now. He will grow in the pros and be a stud QB.

Ppl rag on him wearing gloves. Ben also wore gloves ALOT!

 

I saw Matt Hasselback on ESPN this morning and he said that Pickett will start the season. He said if the Steelers wanted someone to sit on the bench and learn the position behind Trubisky, then they would have drafted Willis. Hasselback said that the Steelers drafted Pickett because he is ready to play right away and they fully expect him to be the starter.

 

I wonder if they would have signed Trubisky if they had known they would get Pickett. It doesn't seem like it.

 

What makes Willis have more upside?