It feels like a long time has passed since Kenny Pickett left the Pittsburgh Steelers. In reality, it has only been three years since the Steelers traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles. Since leaving the Steelers, Pickett's career has only spiraled further downward. He has been a quarterback on four different teams over the past two years and has only started three games during that time.
He is now with the Carolina Panthers, and Pickett remains in the middle of a backup quarterback competition. He is the likely winner of that job, but after his recent performance in the preseason kickoff in the NFL's Hall of Fame game, that could change.
Not only did Pickett get upstaged by rookie Carson Beck from the Cardinals, but his competition for the backup job in Carolina outplayed him too.
Steelers Nation can do nothing but laugh and breathe a sigh of relief that the Kenny Pickett experiment is long gone. He was overdrafted by the franchise, which still had Dan Marino FOMO and forced the pick, which only inflated the issue. Pickett's career continues to spiral downward, and it seems that after his latest preseason flub, his job security could be brought into question once again.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett just got exposed in latest preseason game
Going into the Hall of Fame game, Pickett had a terrific opportunity in front of him to take advantage of backups in the lineup. A seasoned quarterback like himself should be able to find holes in the opposing defense without starters in the game. That did not happen, and Pickett left a stat line that left more to be desired.
The former Steelers quarterback had a mediocre day at the office.
Pickett didn't have much success on offense during his stretch of play time. He threw the ball only 11 times and completed eight of those passes. He was also sacked once and generally struggled to move the ball. The Panthers saw a turnaround when Pickett was benched. Undrafted rookie quarterback Hayes King found different ways to make plays and apply points on the board.
King not only made plays with his arm, but also with his legs. He accounted for 219 total yards of offense and three touchdowns. One of those scores came on the last play of the game, when King scrambled and pushed himself into the end zone to win the game. The undrafted rookie needs a lot of work on his game, but his first preseason outing outshone Kenny Pickett by a wide margin.
You could see the staleness and lackluster effect that Carolina played with when Pickett was their quarterback. King found ways to make plays and energize their offense. He has a long way to go before pushing in front of Pickett on the depth chart, but this is a step forward. The Steelers should be nothing but happy with the decision to move on from Pickett as he continues to flounder.
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