Rewind to the 2022 season and rookie first-round QB Kenny Pickett led the only non-playoff season for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last five years. Would the result be any different in 2025—just four seasons later—with another first-round quarterback? All the recent buzz has been about the potential of Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders tumbling down the draft board and falling all the way to the Steelers at No. 21 overall.
“He’s way better of a prospect than Kenny Pickett a couple years ago,” Kevin Clark said via ESPN’s Get Up this morning. “People were talking about a guy slipping, maybe making those comparisons. No, he’s much better. Arthur Smith, play-action, he’ll hang in there. He’s tough. He’s physical. I’m in on this match.”
Both Pickett and Sanders actually have some of the same drawbacks. Both hold onto the ball too long and take unnecessary sacks. Pickett is probably the better athlete of the two in terms of being a threat with his legs. But Sanders is way more accurate and throws a better deep ball. He also seems to see the field better and get through his reads a little better than Pickett was able to coming out of college.
Not that the optics necessarily matter, but Sanders would be viewed as pretty strong value at No. 21 overall whereas people were lukewarm on Pickett being the first QB off the board, and he was the only one who went in the first round.
The big difference would be the situation that Sanders steps into compared to Pickett in 2022. The main difference is the offensive line. While not great in 2024, there are legitimate hopes of the young and highly pedigreed unit improving in 2025. Pickett had a young Dan Moore Jr., a struggling Kevin Dotson, and then Kendrick Green, Trai Turner and Chukwuma Okrafor. It was one of the worst versions of a Steelers offensive line that has now been bad for five or six years.
DK Metcalf, George Pickens and a veteran Pat Freiermuth are also a better stable of receiving weapons than Pickett had to work with. Oh, and he would be working with respected OC Arthur Smith instead of Matt Canada. There is no doubt that Sanders would be set up way better than Pickett ever was with Pittsburgh.
Former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum added to the conversation on the panel.
“We are going to the playoffs,” Tannenbaum said of Sanders potentially joining the Steelers. “We got Mike Tomlin, a Hall of Fame coach. We have a young offensive line that I believe will improve. They’re gonna get Troy Fautanu back. Their defense is still, it’s not elite, it’s very good. And let’s not forget about DK Metcalf and George Pickens. To me, he goes there [and] he’s in an ideal situation. I don’t think he screws it up. I think Mike Tomlin keeps a winning record and they go to the playoffs.”
Sanders is the better prospect and would be stepping into a way better situation to develop and build confidence. Some fans will worry about another Pickett situation with drafting a quarterback in a weak class, but these are entirely different situations.
