Kenny Pickett was the best possible option at QB for the Steelers in 2022
By Tommy Jaggi
Drafting any other QB looks like it would have been a mistake
If the Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t going to go the trade route and were insistent on finding a quarterback in the NFL Draft, it’s hard to argue that they should have taken anybody else. If you recall, Malik Willis was the name commonly linked to this team, and he was the player that most fans wanted.
Willis was said to have the highest upside in the class thanks to his whip of an arm and excellent running ability. However, the former Liberty QB and Auburn Transfer was remarkably raw and simply wasn’t a good passer in college. In his three starts in the NFL, Willis looked abysmal trying to run an offense, and the Titans ultimately resorted to journeyman and former Steelers QB, Josh Dobbs.
Willis isn’t the only QB selection who would have been worse than Pickett. Fans were split on this quarterback class as some preferred players like Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder, Ole Miss’s Matt Corral, or North Carolina’s Sam Howell. Though we don’t know yet how these quarterbacks will turn out, Corral had a disappointing season before landing on IR, Ridder struggled after becoming a starter, and Howell fell all the way to the fifth round as teams viewed him as a backup.
This isn’t to say that it’s impossible for a QB from the 2022 draft class to become a better football player in the future, but based on what we’ve seen at this point, taking anyone else certainly seems like it would have been the wrong decision.