Steelers Rumors: Kenny Pickett’s Reaction to Russell Wilson Deal Led to Eagles Trade

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ decision to trade quarterback Kenny Pickett was influenced in part by his reaction to the team signing Russell Wilson, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac and the MMQB’s Albert Breer.

Pickett was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles five days after Wilson agreed to a one-year deal with the Steelers.

Pickett “communicated to the team he was fine with competing for the job, then went the other way when Wilson was added,” Breer reported.

According to Breer, Pickett “felt misled when he was told Wilson would get first crack with the 1s in OTAs.”

The situation was exacerbated by rumors that Pickett “refused to dress” as an emergency third quarterback behind Mason Rudolph in Week 17 last season, Dulac wrote. Pickett later denied that he refused to dress, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.

The Steelers received two 2025 7th-round picks, while swapping the No. 120 pick of the 2024 draft for No. 98, in the trade, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Wilson avoided directly answering questions Friday about whether the Steelers had wooed him in free agency by assuring him he would be the team’s starting quarterback in 2024.

The former Denver Broncos quarterback said Friday that he texted Pickett after deciding to sign in Pittsburgh, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.

“As soon as I made the decision to come here, I texted Kenny and got to talk to him a little bit and told him, ‘Hey, every day we go out there, let’s be the best version of ourselves and try to make this team better,'” Wilson said Friday, per Patra.

The Broncos will eat $85 million in dead cap over the next two seasons after deciding to release Wilson, who passed for a career-low 7.2 yards per attempt in 2023. He finished his 12th NFL season with 3,070 passing yards for 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Pickett was expected to compete with Wilson for the starting position in Pittsburgh. That won’t be the case in Philadelphia, where three-season starter Jalen Hurts just completed his second consecutive Pro Bowl campaign.

Pickett, a former No. 20 pick, isn’t the only quarterback in his draft class that turned out to be a poor match for his team. He is one of several struggling signal-callers selected at the top of the 2022 draft, in which San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was famously drafted with the last pick.

Pickett’s Steelers career will end after two up-and-down seasons during which he showed flashes of promise while plagued by inaccuracy.

He passed for 2,070 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions in 12 starts in 2023 before his season ended in December due to his undergoing “TightRope” surgery on his ankle.

The Steelers will take on $3.7 million in dead cap next season, resulting in about $131,000 of cap savings after moving Pickett’s contract, per Over the Cap.