Browns QB Kenny Pickett appears to take subtle jab at Steelers when asked about Eagles experience

While he has never publicly said anything negative about his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kenny Pickett may have inadvertently taken a shot at his former team when he was recently asked about his one season as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Pickett, whom Philadelphia traded traded to Cleveland earlier this offseason, was unceremoniously traded from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia last offseason, less than two years after the Steelers selected him with the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. 

“I’m extremely grateful for my time in Philly,” Pickett said. “I think I was just shown how it was supposed to be done, really from the top down. When you get a chance to see what it’s supposed to look like, and how it should look on a day-to-day basis, not just on Sunday’s. I think it’ll pay dividends for me in the future.” 

As noted earlier, Pickett has never gone out of his way to criticize the Steelers, who traded him despite the fact that they were 12-3 in Pickett’s last 15 starts that saw him play in the majority of the game. It’s no secret, however, that Pickett and the Steelers didn’t necessarily end things on the best of terms. 

In Week 18 of the 2023 season, Pickett publicly defended himself after reports surfaced stating that he declined to dress for Pittsburgh’s Week 17 game against Seattle if he wasn’t going to be the starter. Pickett was working his way back from an injury and was ultimately not activated for that game. 

After the season, Pickett reportedly received assurances by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin that — while there would be an open competition for the starting job — the team was not going to bring in an established quarterback to compete with Pickett and Mason Rudolph. 

Not too long after that, Rudolph reportedly contacted Pickett to tell him that the team was indeed bringing in Russell Wilson, who was in the process of being released by the Denver Broncos. At that point, Pickett reportedly informed the Steelers of his desire to be traded. The Steelers granted him his wish, sending him to the Eagles, where he won his only start last season while backing up eventual Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts. 

To his credit, Pickett has done his best to move on from whatever happened during the end of his time in Pittsburgh. During his first introductory press conference in Cleveland, Pickett put to rest any remaining questions about the Steelers and what led to the team trading him to Philadelphia. 

“I’m not gonna get too much into that,” Pickett said. “I feel like that’s in the past now. I had a chance to play in Philly after leaving Pittsburgh, and I’m excited to be a Brown now.” 

While Pickett has put his Steelers experience in the rearview mirror, another former Pittsburgh quarterback — Hall of Famer and four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw — recently went viral for his criticism of the Steelers’ handling of Pickett during his time with the team. 

“I liked Kenny Pickett,” Bradshaw said on 103.7 The Buzz. “I liked him at Pitt. I know him, I know what he’s like. When they got him to Pittsburgh, they didn’t protect him, they didn’t get him an offensive line. They wanted to run the football, but they didn’t have an offensive line that could protect and they didn’t have weapons. He had no wide receivers to speak of. 

“Then they throw a kid in there for two years and you’ve got an offense that doesn’t fit and doesn’t work, and they can’t run because their offensive line’s not even good enough for a run blocking team. Now, they’re saying Kenny Pickett is a failure. He wasn’t a failure, the Steelers were a failure.” 

With that chapter in his career behind him, Pickett is focused now on winning the starting job in Cleveland. Along with Pickett, the Browns‘ quarterback room consists of longtime Ravens starter and former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel and rookie fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders. 

“I’m really excited about what Kenny brings to this team,” said Browns coach Kevin Stefanski. “He’s a guy who works extremely hard at his craft. I love the way he thinks about the game. He’s very, very tough. So he’s doing a nice job. As you can imagine with quarterbacks or any position, we’re throwing at lot at these guys, and I think he’s handling it really well.”