3 of the worst issues of Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett

Steelers issue #2

Arm Strength

One of my biggest complaints with Pickett coming out of college was his lack of arm strength. While he doesn’t have a horrible arm, on tape it is clear to see that he will never be the traditional gunslinger that some of the top names in the league are. Simply put, he won’t have the arm strength to keep pace with them.

For the majority of his college career, Pickett had a yards per attempt average under 7.3. Compare that to the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and frankly, it isn’t good enough. Those guys constantly put up averages in the mid-eights, as they have the arm strength to push the ball down the field regularly.

You can point to Pickett’s final college season as proof that he has enough arm strength. His average did jump to 8.7, a sign that he was more capable of pushing passes deep. However, a lot of his success there stemmed from Jordan Addison. Can Pickett make plays deep? Sure, but it isn’t a strong element of his game and odds are, he won’t consistently win deep in the pros.

We saw an offense limited by the arm strength of its quarterback for the past few years in Pittsburgh. Sure, you can still win, but having an offense capable of winning deep is a proven successful strategy. The Steelers will likely have to continue to rely more on the short and medium passing game than the deep one once again.

Unfortunately, arm strength doesn’t get better once you are in the pros. This means that what you see is what you get in that regard to Pickett. You don’t need a quarterback with an elite arm to win; Tom Brady has proven that for years. That said, Pickett will have to perfect almost every other facet of his game if he hopes to be elite despite lacking an ideal arm.