The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a place they haven't been all too familiar with as of late: starting a young quarterback. Kenny Pickett is entering his second year in the NFL and what is expected to be his first full season as the Steelers' starting quarterback. The Steelers' organization has not had a second-year quarterback start for the team since Ben Roethlisberger in 2005, as Roethlisberger was the team's primary starter from the first half of his rookie year in 2004 all the way through the 2021 season. Roethlisberger's long time back-up, Charlie Batch, recently discussed his expectations for Pickett and explained how Pickett reminds him of a young Roethlisberger.
Batch Explains His Expectations For Steelers' Pickett
"This is gonna remind me exactly of how Ben [Roethlisberger] went from year one to year two. He had a chance to study all of his plays from the season before and thats exactly what Kenny Pickett is going to do. He's going to see what they did with the offensive line and they expect the running game to get better. So when you have that, now he has to gain the trust with Matt Canada to push the ball down field."
Pickett will surely be studying his game film from last season, especially in his first couple of games as he seemed to be extremely turnover prone to learn how to limit those mistakes. Pickett will passing behind a much improved offensive line this year.
The team was able to sign one of the top free agent guards, Isaac Seumalo and they also spent their top draft pick on one of the best offensive tackle prospects in the draft: Broderick Jones. Nate Herbig was also signed by the Steelers for some added depth at guard and Spencer Anderson was selected in the seventh round.
This revamped offensive line should give Pickett some more confidence when he drops back to pass, as well as give him more time behind the line to make the right read. In addition, the run game will improve as well. Najee Harris has not run behind a good offensive line since he arrived in the NFL back in 2021, yet he has still managed to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark in each of his first two seasons. This means Harris is barely scratching the surface of his potential.
With Pickett going into his second season and first as the starter after his first full offseason in Matt Canada's offense, it should be expected for the unit to be more explosive and open up some more for Pickett. Despite rumors of Canada refusing to open up the play book and declining to change much about the offense, Pickett expects the offense to be fun and effective based off of what he saw this Spring.
With the new offensive line allowing the run game to take a step forward, it should open up some plays threw the air for Pickett and his receivers. If Canada allows and trusts Pickett to make throws down field, this team might be seeing a lot of success on the offensive side of the ball. Batch expects the Steelers to focus on giving Pickett more opportunities to throw the ball down field.
"They were in the bottom third of the entire league in passes over 20 yards. They need to elevate that and add it to his arsenal."
Pickett displayed his deep ball a couple of times last year, and there has even been multiple videos of him working on it during throwing sessions with Gunner Olszewski and Allen Robinson II. Whether or not Steelers' fans see more explosive plays down field next season won't come down to whether or not Pickett can make the throw, it'll depend on whether or not Canada allows him to.
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