It wouldn’t be surprising if a lot of Pittsburgh Steelers fans follow Kenny Pickett this season. He’s just a year removed from being the future of the franchise, and he relocated only across state to the Philadelphia Eagles.
But Pickett is clearly moving on.
While speaking to the media on July 8 at the Champion Mindset Symposium at Shore Regional High School in New Jersey, Pickett shared that his move across the Keystone State has been very positive.
“Change is a great thing,” said Pickett, via The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Ben Istvan. “I’m going through it right now. I was in Pittsburgh for seven years and now I’m over in Philadelphia.
“A lot of people probably have some negative views on change, but that’s really just your outlook on it. I think if you keep a positive mindset, it’ll all work out for the better.”
The Steelers traded Pickett and the 120th overall pick in this year’s NFL draft to the Eagles. In exchange, the Steelers received the 98th pick and two 2025 seventh rounders.
Kenny Pickett Performed Well in Eagles OTAs
Pickett requested a fresh start after the Steelers signed quarterback Russell Wilson this offseason. Pickett received his wish just days later with the trade.
The 2022 first-round pick left the Steelers after only two seasons. In 25 games, he threw 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Pickett also led the team to a 14-10 record in 24 starts.
He will serve as the primary backup to Jalen Hurts with the Eagles. But there’s still some hype around Pickett heading into training camp. SI.com’s Eagles Today’s Ed Kracz wrote on May 22 that Pickett outperformed Hurts during an offseason workout.
“The backup quarterback looked sharp, sharper than Jalen Hurts, to be honest,” Kracz wrote. “The Eagles can win games with him if something happens to Hurts.”
Kracz noted that his observation was a potential overreaction, especially because the media doesn’t get the opportunity to view every offseason rep. But even if Pickett looks great on every rep this summer, Steelers fans would probably still warn the Eagles to keep their Pickett expectations in check.
Pickett posted a perfect passer rating during the 2023 preseason. But that mattered very little when the regular season began.
Despite the stellar preseason, in some statistics, Pickett actually performed worse last year than he did during his rookie campaign.
Pickett Leaves Behind a Strong Fourth-Quarter Legacy for Steelers
Unfortunately for the Steelers, Pickett was not able to develop into a franchise quarterback. But in just 24 starts, he did lead the team to six fourth-quarter comebacks and posted seven game-winning drives.
Half of the games Pickett won in Pittsburgh included him leading the Steelers on a game-winning drive.
Pickett did nearly all of his best work in the fourth quarter of games. Over two seasons with the Steelers, Pickett registered a 64% completion percentage and 7.2 yards per attempt average in the fourth quarter.
He was better during the fourth quarter in both of those statistics than any other quarter. In fact, Pickett didn’t average more than 6.1 yards per attempt in any other quarter than the fourth.
Pickett addressed that success at the Champion Mindset Symposium.
“I don’t think too much, and I think that’s because of all the preparation I had leading up to the week and before that,” Pickett said. “I’m never trying to psych myself up or get myself too worked up because I put so many hours in to get to that point, that I’m just out there playing. The preparation is so key to becoming successful at your game.”
