Madden Monday: 'There's just not anything to dislike' about Kenny Pickett's preseason for Steelers

After a 3-0 preseason for the Steelers, many in Pittsburgh are bumping up their 2023 win total predictions by multiple games. Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X has a more conservative approach.

“I might be coerced into 10-7 instead of 9-8. But, for me, there’s still plenty of question marks,” Madden said during this week’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “I’m just talking about your spots on your team now that maybe aren’t gaping holes but aren’t as strong as you might like — and ultimately they’ll need to be.”

Madden gave a few examples.

“I don’t like either tackle (Dan Moore Jr., Chuks Okorafor) or the center (Mason Cole) all that much,” Madden said. “I still question if they’ll use the middle of the field in real games and take that risk. If they’ll cash in in the red zone in real games. In the first game, (against) San Francisco, (coach Kyle) Shanahan, with (running back Christian) McCaffrey and (tight end George) Kittle, they’re going to go right after the Steelers’ weakness, which is inside linebacker. And their cornerbacks aren’t that deep. So there’s still a lot of things I wonder about when it comes to the Steelers.”

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Specifically regarding those three offensive linemen, Madden doesn’t see any of them as outright liabilities. He just thinks the Steelers could do better. Or at least he would prefer if the strength of the line was allocated elsewhere.

“They are just run-of-the-mill players,” Madden said of Cole, Okorafor and Moore. “When your best offensive linemen are both the guards (Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels), I’d prefer they were the tackles.”

While Madden is a bit dubious of those aspects of the depth chart, he seems to think the quarterback position is becoming less of a variable. Kenny Pickett led the first-team offense to scoring drives on all five of the possessions he piloted over the three preseason games. He went 13 of 15 passing for 199 yards, two touchdowns and a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

It’s Madden’s belief that Pickett’s strong preseason is an indication that consistent good things may be coming from the second-year signal-caller out of Pitt.

“Kenny Pickett is the one … I don’t want to say sure thing. But the things I talked about (that) I’m not sure about, Kenny Pickett, I’m relatively sure about. Although I still think Kirk Cousins is the ceiling,” Madden said. “He looked fine. I liked his leadership angle for a second-year guy. There’s just not anything to dislike about him.”

Also, during Monday’s podcast, Madden and I get into the prospects for any future Pittsburgh Penguins moves. We discuss Paul Skenes’ bumpy debut in Altoona. We give some thoughts about Kent Tekulve’s Pirates Hall of Fame induction, and we look at a busy run of concerts in Pittsburgh that we are planning to attend.