Steelers QB Kenny Pickett Has Giant Goal for Upcoming Season
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers went and got their quarterback last NFL Draft, and since stepping into the starting role, there's been a positive outlook on the future in the Steel City.
Maybe 9-8 wasn't the record the team was satisfied with in 2022, but with Kenny Pickett running the show, the Steelers feel confident moving forward.
Throughout his rookie season, all you heard about Pickett was his leadership and work ethic. Players were attracted to him because there was never nerves. What he brought to the team was perfectly described by head coach Mike Tomlin after the New York Jets game - a "spark."
Now, he's looking to take that to the next level, and the work he's putting in has to be contributing to even more success in the future. During an interview with Steelers.com's Terresa Varley, Pickett said he spends the entire day working at the team's facility.
"I would be here mighty early. And I left mighty late," Pickett told Varley. "Showing up here when it was dark out and leaving when it's dark is a little bit depressing. I was taking some vitamin D for sure.
"I don't track the hours. I just kind of go through how I need to prepare and then whatever it ends up being, it ends up being. It would be about leaving the building when I felt good about the day's work, and I felt really confident going into the game."
Pickett made headlines when he appeared on the Pat McAfee Show early in the offseason and said he took about a week off before beginning to train again.
That clearly hasn't changed, as he told Varley he took "a few days off" before having to get back onto the field and start preparing for the upcoming year.
"I was planning on taking a lot more time off, but I've never taken a lot of time off," Pickett said. "I took a couple of days off, and I wasn't acting myself, and my fiancée Amy was like, you've got to get back to training."
Steelers fans have to have a smile reading that their quarterback can't stay away from a football, but his goals in 2023 will rise that smile even more.
Pickett doesn't stop practicing, has already shown he can lead the Steelers to a winning season, and is only entering year two of his NFL career. And this season, he's got very high expectations.
"There are so many things I’m going to go through here in this offseason in order for me to take that big jump in Year Two, which I’m expecting myself to do," Pickett said. "There were so many new things coming in this year that you can’t even put into this one interview that you’re going through as a rookie quarterback in the NFL. I just got so much more comfortable from the first day I walked in here to the last day of the season. It’s like night and day. I felt like I’ve been here for two or three years versus one season, how much time I’ve been around everybody. So having that groundwork, that base, the work in the offseason. I’m really excited."
With the mindset and effort Pickett is putting in this offseason, the Steelers might have everything they thought they would in their new quarterback.
"In order to be great you have to have a love for the game. I want to be one of the best," Pickett said. "I know what I have to do and there's a lot of things that we need to do as a team to get us to our goals. I feel like it all starts with me and my play. I've got to be the guy that takes us there. I'm ready to take it on."
Steelers fans would love nothing more than another generation of quarterback who sits up top with the greats.
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