The Heroes and Villains of the Steelers' Season: 5 players saving the day, 5 causing mayhem

Steelers worst-performing player: Kenny Pickett

I have struggled to get on the Kenny Pickett bandwagon since he was drafted. I’m not a fan of taking high-floor, low-ceiling quarterbacks, as it will likely limit your team in the long run. These feelings continued as Pickett flashed a lot of mediocre play as a rookie.

That said, I did start to drink the Kool-Aid a little bit this preseason. Pickett looked like he was on a different planet, making sharp reads, throwing accurate passes, and seemingly setting himself up for the sophomore leap. While I knew he wouldn’t be perfect, I expected Pickett to at least improve upon his play as a rookie.

And then week one happened, and Pickett regressed back into the frantic, mistake-prone quarterback that he was as a rookie. While some of the team has gotten better since week one, Pickett hasn’t. Suddenly, he is staring down his reads once again and struggling to hit open receivers.

While there are other issues at play, Pickett is one of the biggest problems with this team. He isn’t a threat to defenses, so they can instead focus on stopping the run knowing that Pickett will rarely burn them. He looked like a player on the rise, but his poor play made him the worst player for the Steelers through the bye week.

The Steelers have had a tough start to the season, but despite their struggles, they have clawed their way to a 3-2 record. The wins are in thanks to these star players, while we can mount a lot of the blame on these five struggling players.