Farabaugh: Kenny Pickett Showing the Life of a Rookie in the NFL

Kenny Pickett is a rookie. Sometimes, that fact can get overlooked very early on in a quarterback’s career. But it needs to be drilled into oblivion because it is important. While other players at other positions come in and become elite out of the gate, like Ja’Marr Chase or Micah Parsons, rarely does that ever happen at quarterback. Oftentimes, even great rookie quarterback seasons are relegating those players to being game managers.

Going back to Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie year, the Steelers were a buzzsaw with the rookie under center. However, Roethlisberger never threw the ball more than 30 times that season. His season-high was 28 attempts against the New York Giants in a 33-30 shootout where Roethlisberger still threw two interceptions to one touchdown. Peyton Manning notoriously threw more interceptions than touchdowns in his rookie season.

Who are the players who have had fantastic rookie seasons recently? Lamar Jackson is one, but it is hard to replicate the success with Jackson’s elite athleticism. Justin Herbert is another who rocketed right out of the gate. However, Patrick Mahomes sat his first season, Josh Allen struggled, Kyler Murray was volatile, and many others were in the same position. Simply put, historically, rookie quarterbacks are not supposed to be good.

Kenny Pickett has thrown 7 interceptions in his first 4 career games.

The only other rookie QB to throw 5+ INT in their first 4 career games (and play in at least 4 games) with the Steelers was Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, who would go on to win 4 Super Bowls for the Steelers.

— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) October 24, 2022

Even in Steelers lore, now Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw started out his career so badly that he was benched at one point. The volatility of rookie quarterbacks, even if they are 24 is a very real thing. At times, Pickett makes the offense look the best it has all season. At other times, it looks about as bad as it ever has, even with Mitch Trubisky at the helm.

So, when Kenny Pickett took the team down the field twice but made two bad throws resulting in interceptions, it was pretty easy to realize what was happening. It was a rookie learning the ropes of the game. The NFL is different from college, even for that 24-year-old guy. In reality, the Steelers are not even that great of a situation for Pickett to walk into right now.

Rookie quarterbacks need support systems. That includes a good play caller, offensive line, receivers, and a consistent rushing game. Ideally, you have all of those, but a few teams actually do carry all of those qualities. Still, there has to be a base around that rookie, but in reality, Pickett and no quarterback would have much of a foundation to work with at this stage.

The fatal flaw for Pickett in this game was a propensity to abandon his decision-making process in high-leverage situations. This is when Pickett decided to give it a go and play ‘big boy’ football for the first time in his NFL career. Usually, shying away from those tight window throws, Pickett decided to let them rip in the fourth quarter against Miami to see what he could muster out of it.

It did not end well. But those are throws that Pickett made in college. Again, this is the jump that the rookie quarterback has to make. Pickett must learn to play within his abilities and figure out what throws he can and can not make. But Pickett could learn that with time, but coaching needs to help that with the support system.

Either way, the struggles that Kenny Pickett is having should not surprise anyone at this point. Rookie quarterbacks are volatile and often not very good. Year 2 is when the pressure truly starts to ratchet up. Pickett just got done with his third career start, and it is hard to truly know how he will respond throughout the rest of the season.

However, this should have been the expectation. Pickett can show flashes that everyone wants to see, and then there are other times when he will look like a rookie. So, as he struggles understand these are rookie growing pains, and these are not out of the norm.