Can Kenny Pickett be the Steelers’ version of Mac Jones? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab discuss how Pittsburgh’s offense looks through two weeks of the preseason. There is quite a bit of talent on the outside, and in the backfield. Could their rookie QB follow the same script the Patriots’ signal caller did a season ago? Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
CHARLES ROBINSON: I watched Pittsburgh in the preseason. I watched a lot of their first team snaps, and they did look good. Like, I'm not going to lie, other than the quarterback. And Pickett looked decent. Like, I'm like, I don't think you start him. I think maybe you move to him faster than I would have thought, but he looked decent.
And it kills me because, like, George Pickens, like, I'm watching, and I'm just like, come on, man. I know why Pickens went where he went. I get all that. I question-- you know, you question all that, but he goes where he goes. And then-- but then you watch him on the field, and you're like, [BLEEP]
FRANK SCHWAB: This guy's good. He looks like a top 15 man, top 10 man.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He does look like a top 15 wide receiver in the draft.
FRANK SCHWAB: He looks really good, and I hate to anoint guys in the preseason because that doesn't always work out. But man, he looks like a dude.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Claypool looks good.
FRANK SCHWAB: Oh, yeah. All of a sudden you have Claypool, Diontae Johnson, Pickens, Freiermuth, who I think is a really good player, Najee Harris, who's a first round running back. I'm not totally sold on him being an elite guy, but he can handle the load.
All of a sudden you have Mitchell Trubisky or Kenny Pickett or Mason Rudolph or Terry Bradshaw or Mark Malone, whoever. They don't need to be great. They need to get the ball to those guys. And I think that they might be capable of that. I just think that--
CHARLES ROBINSON: So let me give you the comp, then. Let me give you the comp for Pittsburgh. What if Pickett just plays the Mac Jones role this year.
FRANK SCHWAB: Right, right, yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: What if he just plays the Mac Jones role, and the rest of the team's coached well enough, and the talent's good enough, and they're pretty good defensively. All of a sudden, yeah-- I mean, like, that was the thing. When Mac Jones played the way that he played for the Patriots last year, we were like, wow they're good. Like, he's good enough.
Everything else is going to keep them afloat. Like, yeah, you're probably going to go to the playoffs, and not-- probably won't advance. I mean, they got housed, but maybe Pickett is that guy who comes in, and you're like, he's exactly what they thought they were getting. They are 1,000% familiar with him because he was in the same building forever. And the offensive line, yes, that scares me.
FRANK SCHWAB: It's a little bit of a--
CHARLES ROBINSON: It's horrific.
FRANK SCHWAB: There's no doubt.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Oh, it's a terrible offensive line.
FRANK SCHWAB: Not good.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah.
FRANK SCHWAB: But yeah, I mean Pittsburgh is one of those-- like I said, Pittsburgh, Carolina. Detroit's another one I know everybody's on that bandwagon. But teams really like, maybe I'm just a little too down on these teams because they could end up being pretty darn good.
And again, as to this AFC North that-- look, I'm high on the Ravens, but that doesn't mean I'm right. I liked the Colts last year. They didn't even make the playoffs. What if the Ravens are just kind of, did take a step back to mediocrity, and the Bengals are just kind of mediocre. And the Browns, who knows?
I think all four of these teams in the AFC North are-- they have a lot of question marks around them, and we'll see. It's one of more interesting divisions, probably second most behind the AFC West.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, the Watson suspension remixed things. It really did.
