Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett is being relegated to third-team duties to begin his first NFL training camp.

Because of that, he hasn’t been working with a lot of veterans or top-of-the-depth-chart talents.

As a result, a lot of the team drills have been a struggle for Pickett. The game looks fast for him so far. He’s had some happy feet. He’s thrown some interceptions. And his poise, accuracy and pocket sense — all notable attributes during his time with the Pitt Panthers — have yet to be seen in his first few practices.

In other words, for Pickett, it’s been a lot of what we saw from Mason Rudolph when he first got thrown into games for an injured Ben Roethlisberger.

Meanwhile, Rudolph has looked like the best of the three QBs at camp so far.

Some want to blame the Steelers for failing to put Pickett in a position where he can succeed in the battle to at least be the backup on game days. Others are already saying this is an indication that Pickett was a bad draft choice.

Then there are folks, such as Mark Madden from 105.9 The X and TribLIVE, who prefer to see it simply as a training camp that’s only four practices old. He says Pickett is merely getting the kind of treatment most young quarterbacks deserve when they jump into the NFL.

“Isn’t it hilarious how there are those who would say Pickett is getting cheated and this is a travesty? It’s just how life is for rookie quarterbacks,” Madden said on this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. “If it can happen to Patrick Mahomes sitting behind Alex Smith, it can happen to Kenny Pickett sitting behind Mitch Trubisky.”

In fact, there has been so much conversation about what Pickett’s role has been that few are discussing the struggles that Trubisky has had with the first-team offense. For instance, he couldn’t direct a single scoring play in his “Seven Shots” goal-line snaps on either Friday or Saturday.

“I think he’ll catch up relatively quickly because he is a veteran. I think he just has to pick up the offense. If this was a legitimate quarterback competition, Mason Rudolph would win it. He’s winning it now, that’s for sure.’” Madden said. “I just don’t see much to criticize yet. Not with any player. Not with how they have done it.”

One thing Madden theorized is that Rudolph may be taking advantage of his veteran status and using a lot of safe throws so he can look better to the coaches, fans and reporters at practice.

“I wonder, with how it is micro-reported, if Mason Rudolph is trying to put up good stats in practice. Which is weird, but we hear the practice stats every day, don’t we?” Madden pondered out loud.

Also in the podcast, Madden and I discuss the state of Diontae Johnson’s contract negotiations, the wide receiver depth chart behind him, the Pirates’ newest losing streak and the latest news about Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk about Steelers training camp, the Pirates and Deshaun Watson

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