Pittsburgh Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addressed certain defenses of former Steelers quarterback and current Philadelphia Eagles backup Kenny Pickett after Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk/NBC Sports openly scoffed at such takes.
"It definitely does depend on who you're talking to within that organization," Fittipaldo said about the end of Pickett's Steelers tenure during a recent appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan, per Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. "(There are some) who will have Kenny's back, and they'll tell you, 'Yeah, there were other people in that building who were talking bad about him.' I don't know if I want to go as far as character assassination, but the Steelers definitely got their word out there pretty quickly on what they wanted the narrative to be."
Private quarterbacks coach Tony Racioppi raised eyebrows when he suggested that Pickett was a victim of "BS narratives" pushed by certain individuals after the 2022 first-round draft pick was accused of refusing to dress as an emergency third quarterback for Pittsburgh's Week 17 game this past December. It was later reported that Pickett "preferred to move on" from the Steelers after the club signed veteran Russell Wilson in March.
Pittsburgh ultimately traded Pickett to Philadelphia that same month.
Florio directly said last week that Pickett "did nothing special" as he accumulated an overall record of 14-10 with Pittsburgh. Fittipaldo hinted that only some within the Steelers were happy to give up on the 26-year-old ahead of springtime workouts.
"There are still some people in that building that believe Kenny was better than what he was, in terms of how he handled himself on that exit," Fittipaldo continued. "Then you talk to other people and they'll swear up and down that Kenny handled the whole thing poorly. Honestly, it just depends on which source you want to talk to inside that building."
The Steelers essentially replaced Pickett on their roster with former Chicago Bears starter Justin Fields, and Fields seems on track to begin the upcoming season as Wilson's primary backup. As for Pickett's short-term future, he's now Philadelphia's QB2 behind starter Jalen Hurts and will only see the field for meaningful action this fall if disaster strikes that club for the second straight campaign.
