It’s officially Kenny Pickett time in Pittsburgh.
Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin benched quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in the second half on Sunday, replacing him with rookie Kenny Pickett. While Pickett had his fair share of struggles in his debut, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on Monday afternoon that the Steelers are fully planning on moving forward with Picket as their QB1 for the remainder of the season.
Pickett was among the favorites to win the Rookie of the Year Award before Trubisky was named the starter. His chances of winning the award had dipped after taking on the backup role.
Now, Pickett finds himself back among the betting favorites to take home the hardware with 13 weeks left in the NFL season.
Check out the full updated Rookie of the Year odds below:
Pickett flashed some exciting plays, but definitely struggled with some growing pains in the Steeler's Week 4 loss to the Jets. He finished 10-13 for 120 yards and three interceptions. Two of the picks hit receivers hands and one came on a Hail Mary at the end of the game.
“We did what we needed to do to put ourselves in position to win this game,” Tomlin said about the decision to turn to Pickett over Trubisky. “We’ll do it again. I’d like to just keep it where we are in terms of what transpired here today. We’ll deal with next week next week.”
Steelers fans have been calling for Pickett for most of the season, and now that they'll get their wish, we'll get a clear glimpse of the future for Pittsburgh.
Perhaps the young Pickett will be able to turn some heads in his first season under center.
