There are signs Pittsburgh Steelers starting Quarterback Kenny Pickett can play at a high level in the NFL. According to former Chicago Bears Head Coach Marc Trestman, he needs to work on making sure fewer passes are ending up in the dirt.
The Oakhurst, NJ native struggled with accuracy in his college career completing just 62.4% of his throws. The positive for the 24-year-old was he was able to improve to 67.2% in his fifth year after completion percentages of 61.6 and 61.1 in his junior and first senior years.
Trestman, a three-time Grey Cup winner in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Montreal Alouettes (back to back in 2008-09) and the Toronto Argonauts (2017), broke down the progress he is seeing from the former University of Pittsburgh star since he took over for Mitch Trubisky in Week 4 in the second half of the game against the New York Jets.
Trestman has made multiple stops as an offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach since he started coaching in the NFL in 1985-86 with the Minnesota Vikings as a running backs coach. He wrote that while Pickett has shown that he can be “impeccably accurate, while at other times, there are inexcusable misses.”
Trestman said the ability to be accurate as a signal caller is “arguably the most important asset a quarterback must have to play in the NFL.”
The former college backup quarterback to future Steeler and Hall of Fame Head Coach, Tony Dungy at the University of Minnesota pointed to a pair of plays during the Steelers’ Week 11 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals where Pickett had a clean pocket and missed his intended target.
As Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin laid out in his press conference earlier this week, Pickett is making positive progress despite it not happening perhaps as fast as he and others would like.
“Based on the tape of the last three games, it is apparent that Kenny Pickett has the skillset and intangibles confirming his first-round status and starting position with the Steelers,” the veteran former NFL coach wrote. “He checks all the boxes on tape necessary to play the game at the highest level, and Coach Tomlin is giving him a chance to grow.”
One of the more interesting points Trestman makes is that unlike the New York teams with young quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Zach Wilson, Tomlin is allowing Pickett to “participate” in games rather than just manage them.
“The Steelers are not running the football to minimize Pickett’s throwing opportunities and putting it on the defense to keep the games close in the fourth quarter like so many teams with young QBs appear to do,” he wrote. “Instead, they are airing it out and allowing him to grow as a quarterback now, not waiting until next year. Both the numbers and the tape suggest that this is true. Pittsburgh has gone all in on Pickett by aggressively throwing the ball in all quarters, field positions, and down-and-distance situations.”
Trestman looked at a number of different aspects of the 24-year-old’s game and for the most part, was impressed. By his evaluation, Pickett has the arm talent to make all the throws an NFL quarterback needs to make, he has “tremendous” throwing mechanics, and good toughness.
The two-time CFL coach of the year also praised his ability to extend plays with his legs, go throw progressions and his pocket awareness.
Trestman said for Pickett to improve on his most glaring weakness he will need time this season and in the offseason, which he didn’t have going into this year according to The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly.
So, Steeler Nation, do you agree with Trestman? If Pickett can fix the accuracy issues, is he going to be a successful QB1?
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