Former Eagles Backup Quarterback Gets Love From Hall Of Famer, Rips Steelers

Kenny Pickett successfully answered the call whenever the Eagles dialed him up last year as Jalen Hurts’ backup, starting against the Cowboys in a game that clinched the NFC East title for the Eagles. He played that game with broken ribs suffered against the Commanders the previous week when Hurts left with a concussion.

Yet, judging by various social media platforms, the quarterback who grew up outside Philadelphia and was a huge Eagles fan didn’t seem to get a lot of love from much of the fan base, for whatever reason.

Well, he has a fan in former Steelers quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, who spoke to ESPN and ripped the Steelers for giving up on him after just two years and trading him to the Eagles last offseason. Pittsburgh drafted him 20th overall in 2022 and never developed him. Now, Steelers fans are supposed to be excited about sixth-round draft pick Will Howard.

“I liked Kenny Pickett,” Bradshaw told ESPN. “I liked him at Pitt. I know him, I know what he's like. When they got him to Pittsburgh, they didn't protect him, they didn't get him an offensive line. They wanted to run the football, but they didn't have an offensive line that could protect, and they didn't have weapons. He had no wide receivers to speak of.

“Then they throw a kid in there for two years, and you've got an offense that doesn't fit and doesn't work, and they can't run because their offensive line's not even good enough for a run-blocking team. Now, they're saying Kenny Pickett is a failure. He wasn't a failure, the Steelers were a failure.”

They are strong words. They were even stronger when it came to the Steelers, who are so desperate for a quarterback that they are giving Aaron Rodgers a long runway to decide whether or not he will play for them.

“That's a joke,” he said to ESPN. “That to me is just a joke. What are you going to do? Bring him in for one year, are you kidding me? That guy needs to stay in California. Go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there.”

You might chalk it up to Bradshaw just being a grouchy senior citizen at the age of 76, but the fact is, the Steelers did not have the foresight to plan for the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger in 2022. They have wandered the wilderness looking for a quarterback ever since.

They passed on drafting Jalen Hurts in 2020 and instead took Chase Claypool, who has been with four teams and did not play last year. Maybe they would have failed to develop Hurts, too, and would have moved on from him like they did with Pickett, who is battling to be the starting quarterback with the Cleveland Browns after the Eagles traded him in the offseason to clear the decks for Tanner McKee to be the primary backup.