The Pittsburgh Steelers had yet another loss in their Week 11 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, and fans are certainly frustrated with Kenny Pickett.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been a tough team for fans to cheer on as they’ve put out continuous losses this season amidst many quarterback issues. They lost yet another matchup in Week 11 with a final score of 37-30 against the Cincinnati Bengals, and many are left frustrated with quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Ever since losing Ben Roethlisberger to retirement after the 2021 season, the Steelers have struggled to find a good replacement.
They prioritized the position as they drafted Pickett in the first round in 2022 and also signed NFL veteran Mitch Trubisky, but neither have produced favorable results, leaving fans and teammates downright frustrated.
Teammate Diontae Johnson has expressed his frustration with both Trubisky and Pickett, and Roethlisberger himself has commented on things Pickett could be doing better. Johnson had an explosive season last season, but he’s not producing nearly the same results this season because he’s not getting passed to when he easily could be.
Of course, Pickett gets some slack because he’s brand new to the NFL, but he’s not performing how a first-round draft pick should be performing. As a result, the Steelers are tied with the Cleveland Browns as the worst team in the AFC North with a 3-7 record.
Unfortunately, at this point of the season, success doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Pittsburgh, and it doesn’t seem likely another quarterback will be drafted so early for a second consecutive year.
The Steelers likely won’t draft another quarterback in early rounds
As unfortunate as this situation is with Pickett, it wouldn’t make sense to pick another quarterback in the draft so early. Pickett was a costly investment as he’s signed to a four-year contract worth $14.1 million, and they can’t necessarily go back on that. Since they’ve already invested the money there, they’re likely to focus on other areas of improvement for more overall depth.
There are, however, a few good options coming up, particularly Bryce Young and CJ Stroud, that could make them consider it. These two certainly seem to have promising potential, but it likely wouldn’t be worth it to invest so heavily in quarterbacks who haven’t even proved themselves in the NFL yet when they need to improve the offensive line overall.
Regardless of what happens, Pickett just isn’t getting the job done and in turn, it’s holding back some great players and the chances of success.