The tradition-philic Pittsburgh Steelers have never joined other NFL teams in adopting the usage of a “C” on the front left of a player’s uniform to denote a captaincy.
With that in mind, Kenny Pickett’s rationalization for taking over a share of the Steelers’ captaincy from Najee Harris is more proverbial than literal.
“I don’t think you need a ‘C’ on your chest,” Pickett said Wednesday, “to be a leader on this team or any team in general.”
A day after coach Mike Tomlin explained away that Harris, in his third season with the Steelers, will not repeat as a co-captain of the offense, Harris himself downplayed that Pickett will serve as the lone official leader of the unit.
“Kenny’s the quarterback, Kenny’s the guy,” Harris said Wednesday. “I have no issue with that. I don’t think anybody has an issue with there being one captain. As long as we win, we’re not tripping. It’s all a team sport.”
Harris was just one season into his career when he was named an offensive co-captain (along with Mitch Trubisky) at this point last year. But after Pickett took over as a rookie starting quarterback late last season, he was a natural choice to usurp Trubisky (now a backup) in a captain’s role. The surprise, then, was that Harris did not retain a share of that mantle.
Tomlin said Tuesday that Pickett “being the lone captain on offense is obviously, no disrespect to the leadership of others.” Pickett on Wednesday expressed similar sentiments.
“We have a ton of leaders on offense, a lot of guys who put their hand in the pile and push this thing forward to where we want to get to,” Pickett said. “I can lean on some veterans and other guys on the offense that are going to continue to lead the way they have been.”
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