PFF Analyst: Mitch Trubisky ‘Might be’ an Upgrade over Kenny Pickett

When Mitch Trubisky takes the field on Thursday against the New England Patriots, they hope he can operate the offense fluidly. Kenny Pickett will be missing for the next few weeks, so Trubisky will naturally start and have to lead the group forward. However, not everyone thinks the move will hurt the Steelers much, if at all, in this stage of the process.

Many are down on Pickett, and while Trubisky is a known commodity, he has won games before to lead the Chicago Bears to the playoffs, for example. Appearing on 93.7 the Fan on Tuesday, Pro Football Focus analyst Brad Spielberger broke down his thoughts on the Trubisky and Pickett debate, and he sees little difference in the player.

“This isn’t meant to be cheeky or anything like that, but it’s a marginal drop-off, if any” Spielberger said. “Look, he’s got a similar physical skill set. He’s good at throwing on the move, going both to his right and his left. You’ll see the occasional inaccuracies on those throws but he has the physical ability to do it. You can have the threat of the designed run or just him taking off, which Mitch does. He’s got a live arm. He can throw to all levels of the field. That guy can do different things. Based on what we’ve seen from Kenny Pickett this year, it might actually be an upgrade.”

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett against the Arizona Cardinals, Dec. 3, 2023 – Ed Thompson / Steelers Now

Before he became a backup, Trubisky struggled mightily as a deep ball passer in 2020. He completed just six 33 passes, throwing four interceptions to two touchdowns. But last season, that changed. In fact, Trubisky was an elite deep-ball thrower by Pro Football Focus’ standards, which graded him with a 91,9 passing grade on those throws. He completed 12 of 31 passes for 348 yards with nine big-time throws.

In other words, this has come to mixed results. But Trubisky, over his career, has proven to create explosive plays off play action. That could be something he looks to do and embrace as a way to get the group moving. With or without Pickett, their skill sets are similar, and so little should change. But Trubisky has shown in the past an ability to get legitimate squeeze out of the offense, even if he is a backup at best.