Not much a surprise here. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have made their decision: Mitchell Trubisky is going to be the starting QB for Week 1 against the Bengals, despite rookie Kenny Pickett’s excellent preseason.
This was the Steelers plan all along. Why else would the Steelers have signed Trubisky to a two year, $14M contract if they didn’t plan on naming the former Bears 1st-round pick their starter for this year, if not next season too?
Yes, the Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett to eventually take the starting spot, but he was never going to be named the starter this season. He was too raw of a talent coming out of college to instantly stand under center for the Black and Gold and face the very best defenses of the NFL.
It was Trubisky’s job to teach Pickett the reigns about being a QB in the NFL, while also steading the ship for the next two seasons.
Yet, that was the plan…before Kenny Pickett proved his worth in preseason. And before all of the controversy.
Sure, Trubisky might be the starter now, as there was no way Tomlin was going to sign the QB to that contract and not play him Week 1, but Kenny Pickett is coming for that job a lot faster than any of us realized. Pickett was extremely impressive in preseason, going 19-22 passing, throwing 220 yards, and had 2 TD passes for a QB rating of 138.6.
Simply put, Pickett is far more developed and ready for the NFL than what was previously thought.
I’m not sure how the scouts saw Pickett as a “project” coming out of the University of Pittsburgh. Pickett was not only more than capable of throwing his signature deep passes during preseason, but he was also very accurate with his throws too. I know it was only preseason, but that’s still very impressive to do against real NFL defense.
If Mitchell Trubisky gets off to a slow start, whether that be from his play or just not fitting in with the Steelers’ offense, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mike Tomlin replace him for Pickett without hesitation.
Though, with Trubisky also being voted a captain today by his fellow teammates, I wouldn’t get your hopes up about Pickett seeing the starting field anytime soon. His time will come, but, for now, Trubisky will be the man to replace the future Hall-Of-Famer Ben Roethlisberger for this upcoming season.
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