Mark Madden: Steelers' 1st-round mistake continues path to obscurity

Kenny Pickett can’t catch a break.

But he’d have trouble catching anything with those small hands.

Pickett is continuing his path to obscurity with the Cleveland Browns, his third NFL team in four years. It’s a further reminder of how absurd it was for the Pittsburgh Steelers to select him in the first round of the 2022 draft. Mike Tomlin’s folly.

Pickett had one good season at Pitt, in his fifth and final year. Pickett wasn’t considered a first-round talent by any other NFL team and would have dropped to the second round had the Steelers not taken him. Maybe further.

But the Steelers were stupidly hypnotized by Pickett just having to switch parking lots at the same practice facility, likely convinced they knew something good about Pickett that other teams didn’t.

Tomlin was euphoric upon choosing Pickett: “We got our guy!”

But Pickett proved a disaster.

He started 24 games for the Steelers, compiling a passer rating of more than 100 just once. He threw two touchdown passes in a game just once. His touchdown percentage of 1.8 with the Steelers was the lowest in NFL history for a quarterback with 500-plus passing attempts. (His current mark of 2.0 still ranks bottom.)

The Steelers knew Pickett was terrible right away. That was reflected by using him in a fashion that was more cowardly than conservative.

Tomlin said Pickett, who had been hurt, was healthy and cleared to play for the Steelers’ Week 17 game at Seattle in 2023. But Pickett reportedly refused to dress as a backup, feeling he should immediately return to his starting job.

The Steelers finished that regular season with Mason Rudolph quarterbacking them to three straight wins before losing in the playoffs.

Pickett’s obstinance set the wheels in motion for his exit from Pittsburgh. He went to Philadelphia and leeched a ring — it’s every kid’s dream to take a knee in the Super Bowl! — then bounced to Cleveland.

Had Pickett kept his cool and stayed in Pittsburgh, the Steelers wouldn’t have acquired Justin Fields. Pickett would have started the first six games in 2024 when Russell Wilson got hurt.

But Pickett would have been terrible. Like always.

Drafting Pickett set the Steelers back at least five years. They still don’t have their long-term quarterback. Perhaps Tomlin will never figure out how to replace Ben Roethlisberger.

Cleveland looked like a good destination for Pickett, perhaps the only team in the NFL where he could win the starting job.

But Pickett has been hampered with a hamstring injury during training camp.

The Browns’ QB room was a logjam to begin with: Pickett was joined by 17-year veteran Joe Flacco and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.

Cleveland picked Gabriel in the third round, Sanders in the fifth. That’s odd and maybe stupid, but Browns ownership likely wanted to make a splash by selecting the overhyped Sanders after he had plummeted down the draft board. Ownership probably wants Sanders to start.

Sanders had a decent exhibition debut last Friday: 14 for 23, 138 yards, two touchdowns. The hype immediately kicked back into high gear.

Neither rookie will get cut.

Flacco, 40, is the lone established veteran.

Pickett will likely get released.

He’s fully guaranteed $2.623 million. That’s more than the UFL pays, anyway. Pickett can always pawn that ring.

Pickett’s fall is shocking, but only because he was a first-round pick. Which he shouldn’t have been.

His decline isn’t surprising, though.

Except for that one season at Pitt, Pickett has never been good.

His talent is meh.

Pickett has always displayed a whiny entitlement that makes him hard to feel sorry for.

If the Browns ditch Pickett, he’ll catch on somewhere as a third-stringer.

But he might be the Steelers’ worst first-round pick ever. The most damaging.

Roll over, Artie Burns, and tell Devin Bush the news.