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PITTSBURGH — It was an all too familiar scene — Kenny Pickett on the turf, writhing in pain.
And if all goes as planned, that same guy will brush off what originally appeared to be a serious injury and get back on the field four days later.
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Pickett has been the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback for just over a calendar year, and he’s already found himself in some precarious situations when it comes to injuries. That brings up a question, whether it is too early to tell or not: Is Pickett injury-prone, or is he an old-fashioned tough guy?
“Kenny is a competitive guy,” quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan said earlier this month. “He is going to fight until the end.”
But this has clearly become a trend. In 19 career starts, Pickett has been injured and not returned in four of them, including late in the first half of Sunday’s 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Pickett was driven into the ground, injured his ribs and did not return, despite throwing after halftime and initially being ruled probable. Tests revealed there was no structural damage, and there is a good possibility that Pickett could play on a short week Thursday when the Steelers host the Tennessee Titans at Acrisure Stadium.
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“I think the door is definitively ajar for Kenny, probably a game-time type decision,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday. “We’ll go through the week. His ability to throw, his level of comfort, his effectiveness and let that be our guide in terms of determining his availability.”
Kenny Pickett was limited at practice on Monday for Steelers ….. that is if the Steelers practiced on Monday.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) October 30, 2023
Whether Pickett starts against the Titans isn’t relevant. It’s the fact that the 25-year-old, 2022 first-round pick got hurt again, and that it doesn’t appear to be a long-term injury.
The question remains: Is it just bad luck that has forced Pickett to leave more games than any other NFL quarterback over the last two seasons? Or is it something to be concerned about, even though two of the first three injuries didn’t keep him out of the following week’s game?
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It’s common to see injuries at quarterback, so Pickett’s elevated number in a short period might not be out of the norm. Already this season, Aaron Rodgers, Justin Fields, Deshaun Watson, Derek Carr, Anthony Richardson, Bryce Young, Daniel Jones, Ryan Tannehill and Jimmy Garoppolo have been injured and missed games. Kirk Cousins will join that list, and Matthew Stafford might also, after both were hurt Sunday. Kyler Murray has yet to play while recovering from an injury suffered last December.
Pickett (even before Sunday’s injury), Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, Geno Smith and Brock Purdy have all been banged up but didn’t miss a start. Desmond Ridder was checked for a concussion Sunday and, although he was cleared, did not return. There are also a handful of backups injured, some out for the season.
But even if it’s common, you can understand the concern.
“This is a fully committed guy,” Tomlin said earlier this season. “This is a guy that works his tail off, and largely, those are guys that create their fortune.”
Pickett has struggled on the field and has been criticized for getting out of the pocket too quickly. It dates back to his college years at Pitt. Pickett has been sacked 44 times in 20 games. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 41 times over his first 20 games.
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After Roethlisberger took 40-plus sacks in five of six seasons from 2006 to 2011, Steelers owner Art Rooney II pushed for an offensive coordinator change — from Bruce Arians to Todd Haley — with one bullet point to his hire: keep the QB upright. It didn’t matter that Roethlisberger had won two Super Bowls and played in a third. Rooney’s directive was to keep his franchise quarterback healthy.
Pickett has shown nothing yet to suggest he’s a franchise quarterback, but he has shown Roethlisberger-like tendencies of getting hurt and coming back not too long after.
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Here are Pickett’s injuries so far:
- He suffered a concussion against Tampa Bay in Week 6 of 2022, his second start. He didn’t miss a game, returning the following week against Miami and matching a career high with three interceptions.
- He suffered a second concussion in his ninth start, in Week 14 of 2022 against Baltimore. He missed the majority of the Ravens game and sat the next week against the Carolina Panthers. He returned Christmas Eve to have arguably the best game of his career against the Las Vegas Raiders.
- Pickett left Week 4’s game this season against the Houston Texans with a bone bruise in his knee after getting sacked. He wore a knee brace for a couple of days before returning and leading the Steelers to a fourth-quarter comeback against the Ravens.
- Pickett injured his ribs against the Jaguars in his 19th career start. He missed the entire second half.
He also missed three college games after suffering shoulder and ankle injuries, having surgery for the latter in October 2020. But the concussions quickly became the main concern for the Steelers.
Both of Pickett’s concussions, which he suffered 56 days apart, happened in a similar fashion: a whiplash tackle that led to the back of Pickett’s head slamming against the turf. He has changed helmets twice, wearing three different models in his short career.
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“It’s obviously a concern, right?” general manager Omar Khan said at the NFL Scouting Combine in late February when asked about Pickett’s concussions. “You take every precaution, you take every step to try and prevent them or minimize them.”
Concussions haven’t been a problem this season, but other things have popped up. The lack of time he has to throw the ball has made him erratic. He often tries to escape the pocket, which can lead to unnecessary hits.
Through eight games, Pickett is one of the NFL’s worst-rated quarterbacks across the board. Even though it’s not all his fault, he has yet to take the next step. Whether any of that has been injury-related, or whether he’s been playing when he should be resting, is not known.
There is a chance that Pickett won’t play Thursday, but he will practice Tuesday and Wednesday to determine that for sure. Tomlin said it’s more than a matter of whether he is medically cleared to play.
“Certainly, I’m going to want to see something, absolutely,” Tomlin said. “He is a young guy, so I need to see some physical preparation to consider him, certainly.”
(Photo: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
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