Steelers, Kenny Pickett pleased with quarterback's rookie growth: 'He's very much in development'

INDIANAPOLIS -- For a little infinitesimal Monday night, Kenny Pickett traveled backmost successful time. As helium walked onto the turf astatine Lucas Oil Field, Pickett drifted backmost to 8 months earlier erstwhile helium made the aforesaid locomotion crossed the field, not arsenic the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback, but arsenic a apical imaginable successful the 2022 NFL draft.

On the aforesaid tract wherever helium took the trial he'd been studying for his full beingness astatine February's NFL Combine, impressing teams with his accuracy, velocity and mobility, Pickett won his archetypal NFL roadworthy crippled and completed his archetypal fourth-quarter comeback with a 24-17 victory against the Indianapolis Colts.

"You locomotion out, you retrieve each the drills you went through, throwing retired determination for the Combine, and past you drawback backmost into trying to spell triumph a shot game," Pickett said Monday night. "I felt comfy connected the roadworthy present and moving the soundless number and having large connection with the guys. I deliberation my erstwhile acquisition has lone helped maine successful this game."

Pickett spent 4 days successful Indianapolis for the yearly Combine, a refined benignant of nutrient marketplace wherever each 32 teams prime implicit and analyse the champion prospects of the draught class. Because of his familiarity with the Pitt quarterback, Steelers manager Mike Tomlin didn't walk overmuch clip with Pickett -- whom the squad yet drafted No. 20 wide arsenic the archetypal backmost disconnected the committee -- but that didn't marque the harvester gauntlet immoderate little stressful arsenic Pickett met with different quarterback-needy teams successful intensive occupation interviews to go their adjacent franchise star.

For Pickett, the abbreviated travel was a whirlwind. A 10-hour time astatine the infirmary adjacent the stadium for diagnostic tests and physicals to papers each erstwhile wounded and imaginable aesculapian concern. Then squad interviews, ceremonial and informal. And past the media scrums wherever helium was peppered with questions astir his below-average manus size. And finally, the testing.

"It was a blur," Pickett told ESPN. "You bid your full offseason, and I've been doing the harvester worldly backmost to erstwhile I was successful similar eighth people getting acceptable for the camps and stuff. You've been grooming a agelong clip to get acceptable for it. So you wanna beryllium astatine your optimal performance. ... You conscionable gotta enactment acceptable for agelong periods of time. So I conscionable retrieve the clip successful betwixt definite things, trying to enactment warm, trying to enactment ready, similar that was ever the conflict I felt similar I was fighting."

Pickett grew acquainted with the agelong carpeted hallway mazes of the Indianapolis Convention Center and the interconnected indoor walkways, moving from 1 extremity to different for meetings and to get to and from his edifice and the stadium. He threw warm-up passes adjacent to a acceptable of escalators, and successful his little moments of down time, helium hung retired successful the normal halfway suite rented retired by Team Test, Pickett's grooming facility, that housed foam rollers and theraguns, on with couches, speakers -- usually playing state euphony -- and a television. But amid the chaos of the Combine, Pickett was inactive honed successful connected his extremity of establishing himself arsenic the champion backmost successful the class.

"He has that benignant of subject [mindset], similar he's conscionable laser-focused and he's truthful non-emotional, which is large due to the fact that determination are nary highs and lows with him," said Tony Racioppi, Pickett's longtime backmost coach. "He's conscionable truthful focused connected the occupation and the extremity that thing wavers him, you know, bully oregon bad. That's the crushed he's gonna beryllium a large pro for a agelong time."

Pickett ran the 40-yard dash astatine the combine, signaling a 4.73 connected the turf astatine Lucas Oil Field successful a drill tally by longtime Steelers scout Mark Gorsack. That was the infinitesimal erstwhile it sunk successful that helium was truly surviving his dream.

"It astir apt deed maine erstwhile I went to get connected the enactment for the 40," Pickett said. "I retrieve sitting connected the sofa each the clip with my dada each twelvemonth watching that increasing up. So erstwhile I deed that enactment it was similar dormant soundless successful there. You're like, 'Oh sh-- similar this it, I'm moving the 40.' But too that, erstwhile you get to throwing routes and stuff, similar that's wherever I'm comfortable."

Monday night, Pickett continued to amusement helium was comfy astatine Lucas Oil Stadium, picking up close wherever helium near disconnected successful the harvester arsenic helium completed 20 of 28 attempts for 174 yards. Continuing to make successful his mastery of the discourtesy and successful his relationships with his receivers, Pickett showed poise nether unit and delivered crisp passes successful the game's astir important moments.

On what turned retired to beryllium the Steelers' game-winning drive, Pickett connected connected 3 important throws: a third-down onslaught to George Pickens implicit the mediate for a 13-yard summation arsenic the Colts brought pressure, an 8-yard propulsion to Diontae Johnson arsenic the Colts were blitzing, and a abbreviated propulsion to choky extremity Pat Freiermuth that turned into a 17-yard summation connected third-and-6. Three plays later, backup moving backmost Benny Snell Jr. recovered the extremity zone, and Pickett enactment an exclamation constituent connected the scoring thrust with a scramble-drill transportation to Pickens for a palmy two-point conversion.

"He's ever had that swagger," Pickens said. "You spot the hairsbreadth [style], similar helium already got the swag, helium already got that benignant of competitiveness.

"...I ever felt similar he's been a large player. I ever felt similar helium had that grittiness to him. That's truly what UGA bred maine on. So similar that's the archetypal happening I fell successful emotion with, conscionable [Pickett's] hard tenacity. He'll ne'er quit, which is what I love. Sometimes the crippled and the circumstances don't adhd up, but similar he'll ne'er quit."

It was the benignant of crippled -- and game-winning thrust -- that lone reaffirmed the Steelers' content successful Pickett, who's experienced his increasing pains successful the spotlight since taking implicit the starting occupation astatine halftime of the Week 4 nonaccomplishment to the New York Jets. But aft a rocky commencement wherever helium committed 9 turnovers and threw 2 touchdowns successful his archetypal 5 games, Pickett has gone 3 games without throwing an interception. In that stretch, the Steelers person won 2 of 3 games.

"He's getting amended each week, and it's successful a precise earthy mode due to the fact that of experience," Tomlin said. "He's a competitor, he's smart. But it's inactive a batch of nutrient connected the bony and it's conscionable the process. He's bully capable and we're bully capable to triumph portion that happens. We're not grading him oregon america connected a curve. We're acknowledging he's precise overmuch successful development. With each drawback comes vulnerability and crisp guys that are competitors, they turn from those things."

To Tomlin, Pickett's improvement isn't mysterious. It's precisely what helium expected to spot from him, adjacent if it hasn't been connected the timeline helium initially planned. And Monday night, successful the spot wherever helium took a important measurement successful his shot journey, Pickett took different large measurement toward becoming the backmost the Steelers thought helium could beryllium erstwhile they watched him propulsion the shot connected the aforesaid tract 8 months earlier.