PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II wasted little time addressing what he felt has been his team’s primary issue since the retirement of legendary, two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger.
The Steelers don’t have a clear long-term answer at the quarterback position and instability that isn’t familiar to this organization after 18 seasons with a future Hall of Famer under center. Rooney wants to address that question quickly this offseason, and that conversation starts with Kenny Pickett.
“In terms of the next step, we need to do everything we can to make sure we get quality play out of our quarterback position going forward,” Rooney said. “We still feel good about Kenny Pickett and his future but he knows he needs to work hard and take the next step and we’ve talked about that. One of the things I think we liked about Kenny in terms of his career at Pitt was how hard he worked and he took a step every year, so we’re looking for that to happen here.”
Pickett, the Steelers’ 2022 first-round pick out of Pitt, threw for 2,070 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions during an injury-stunted 2023 campaign. He played one fewer game than last year, threw for one fewer touchdown, 334 fewer yards and five fewer interceptions. His play remained stagnant, and the Steelers’ offense continued to struggle to score points.