Kenny Pickett

That idea went flying out the Window Thursday Night. Wow, I mean just WOW; how does Pete Carroll not go to Kenny in the 4th QTR down 7-10???

Raiders down by only 3 points to the Broncos in the 4th QTR, starting QB Gino Smith is in the Blue tent being looked at for a Quad injury and can barely walk. Interception is thrown and the Raiders have the Ball on the Broncos 45 with 7:10 remaining in the game.

Gino Smith comes out of the Blue tent, and can barely walk to the huddle, he actually has to stop walking a few time because he is in so much pain trying to get on the field. Gino hands the ball off 4 times, because he can't move, and then throws an incompletion out of the shotgun. Raiders miss a FG to tie the game.

If Kenny can't get in a game where your QB is basically hopping around on one leg, he is never going to get in the game.

 

Kenny is going to be lucky to have a job in the NFL next year. Its unfortunate, but true.

 

They don't have Pickens. Kenny's only play was chucking up a ball down the sideline to George, and hope he could make a crazy catch. He had nothing else.

 

They were saying on Fox Sports today that Aiden O'Connell is close to returning and when he does he will be the named the starter over Geno.

 

This means they do not trust KP in the game at all. Could be the HC, could be the OC, could be both. The trust is with Geno on one leg. For what purpose would they be saving KP for? I would wager he'll be a free agent this offseason looking for a team. Maybe he goes to the UFL, if that's still a thing.

 

You aren’t seeing the 5th year option being triggered

 

Yet we wasted 1st round draft capital on him. Just goes to show how bad the current and former FO is and has been at acquiring QB talent. Not to mention the coaching staff's inability to develop QBs. It really is pathetic how bad the steelers are with QBs not named Ben over the past 20 years.

 

QB is REALLY hard to get right, especially in today's college football world. The offenses are so different than NFL ones and kids are bouncing from one program to another getting less development time in one place (though there are plenty of HC carousels too). We've taken two first round QB's and got a HOF and a bust. The bust rate on first round QB's is over 60%.... that's the reality. We've taken a few later round guys like Howard, and Oladokun, and a couple of mid round guys in Rudolph, Dobbs, and Jones. Oladokun isn't a player, but jury is still out on Howard. Mason and Dobbs are both capable back ups, so its hard to say either of them are a poor selection. Jones was better than given credit for but also not one I would consider a quality back up or anything. We will call him a miss. So 1 for 2 in the first, 2 for 3 in mid rounds, 0 for 1 in the later rounds (with an incomplete for Howard). I think we do okay... we just need to hit on the next one we swing at in the first round. We can't afford another bust or we will be a bad team for a stretch. We get the next first round QB right and we will likely compete for playoff wins and division titles moving forward.

 

You mean like as bad as all the time between Bradshaw, and Ben???

 

Nope, worse.

 

Our 1st, 1st round Qb bust. Even Mark Malone wasn't this much of a bust. I still hate to call the guy a bust because he got saddled with the worst OC in Steelers history, but its hard to defend him since hasn't done anything since leaving here.

Lets see if Khan and A Smith can do better than Colbert in picking a 1st rnd Qb next season (?). Ill bet old Mike is actually looking forward to developing a young Qb for a change.

 

is this Kenny's last season in the NFL, do you think?

 

49ers have been better than most at getting QBs that work for their system.

 

Final year of his contract

But backup quarterbacks are in demand

He will get at least a vet minimum somewhere would be my guess as a #3

 

?? Not drafting them.

Purdy's been good... as long as CMC was playing. Lance was a first round miss. Then you go back to Beathard in 2017... meh.

 

Very true, even Logan Woodside who we had for a while this season has bounced around the league for 8 years as a 3rd team, practice squad QB. In those 8 years he has thrown only 7 passes but keeps finding work.

 

We have only gotten backup QBs through the draft under Tomlin/Colbert/Khan, which is problematic when most people recognized that the player drafted was going to be a longshot at best to be a starter. As you mention, jury is still out on Howard but the odds are not in his favor. Add to your list guys like Landry Jones, Dennis Dixon, Omar Jacobs. The one time they draft QB in the 1st was an abject failure with KP. And most reasonable fans called it. I'm also talking about acquiring QBs in FA. Wilson, Fields, Trubisky, Vick, Paxton Lynch, Mettenberger, there are others I'm missing just during the Tomlin/Colbert era. But my point is that the steelers are not good at acquiring and/or developing QB talent outside of Ben and TB. That has gone beyond the current coaching and FO staff. The list of starting QBs outside of Ben and TB is very cringe worthy IMO.

 

Only 9 QBs even got drafted from that class. Our current Skylar Thompson was one of them. The only one that wouldn't be considered a bust is Brock Purdy. And he was the very last pick. KP was most likely going to be the first QB off the board. Hindsight shows he would have fallen to us at 52, when we took GP, but maybe not. Atlanta may have taken him at 38. KP was a very bad first round pick, that has become obvious. I don't think that he was as bad of a pick at that time due to we really needed to draft a QB.

 

I disagree. We had other high priority needs on OL, DL, secondary and we could have gotten better value with legit starters. Obviously there is some hindsight at play here, but reaching for any QB in that draft class was a bad strategy. I wanted Linderbaum or a CB at the time. KP was never a 1st round talent just because he had 1 good season in college and that has been proven out now.

 

We all knew the 2022 draft was a weak draft at the QB position... That's why it would have been better if the Steelers had waited to draft a QB instead of reaching for one with low ceiling... it was obvious from the start

 

Looking like Kyler Murray will be here next year

https://www.steelernation.com/2025/11/08/steelers-report-unique-quarterback-solution

 

Teams are desperate for QBs.

I think someone will still take a chance on him to be a backup. Or as a token QB1 in the offseason that can get passed by a draft pick.

I used to think that he'd be a good backup. Someone who could be in the top 40 - 45 QBs in the league. But he's been outplayed by the 3rd string QB on at least the Steelers and Eagles. So I agree that it won't be long until he's out of the league. But I'd guess that it won't happen next year.

Teams love pedigree. Although it certainly does hurt him that he isn't under contract next year. I think he'll still have a shot to come in somewhere around vet minimum.

 

or
https://steelerswire.usatoday.com/s...-steelers-mock-garrett-nussmeier/87068924007/