Steelers 2-a-days: 1st-round pick Kenny Pickett and rookie camp tryout Carlins Platel

Editor’s note: From now until the first practice of training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2022 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly-alphabetical order, two per day, between June 11 and July 25. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

QB KENNY PICKETT

Experience: Rookie

Contract status: $2.557 million cap hit in 2022, signed through 2025 with a team option for 2026

2022 outlook: Is Pickett the highest-profile draft pick the Steelers have ever made? Taking a quarterback in the first round — particularly when it’s to replace a retiring future Hall of Famer — will always move the proverbial needle. But when he played at Pitt? And led the Panthers to their first conference title? While being a Heisman Trophy finalist? Wowsers.

But forget the hype. Will Pickett be a worthy successor to Ben Roethlisberger? When will we begin to find out?

The March signing of veteran Mitch Trubisky probably means Pickett won’t begin his rookie season as a starter. Organized team activities and minicamp confirmed that: Pickett was taking third-string reps behind Trubisky and Mason Rudolph. Nothing happened during the “football in shorts” to signify anything will change on the depth chart when training camp starts.

There’s not anything necessarily wrong with bringing a rookie QB along slowly, even if Pickett was by far the first quarterback drafted (20^th overall; the second was Desmond Ridder at No. 74) and had always been considered the most “pro ready” as a four-year college starter who turned 24 years old last month. But if Pickett isn’t starting by the end of 2022 or — at the latest — by the 2023 opener, it probably isn’t a good sign.

Barring something unforeseen, Kenny Pickett still will be the No. 3 quarterback when the Steelers report to Saint Vincent on July 26 to open camp. https://t.co/GJKyQ80WrJ

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) June 19, 2022

CB CARLINS PLATEL

Experience: Rookie

Contract status: $705,000 cap hit in 2022, signed through 2023

2022 outlook: On the other side of the rookie camp spectrum from the first-round pick is the player signed off a tryout at the rookie minicamp. That’s Platel, who played one season at South Carolina after a transfer from Division II Assumption. At 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, Platel played primarily the nickel position in college and had 21 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, two forced fumbles and a sack.

Platel joins a position group with four veterans assured of roster spots in addition to two other veterans in Justin Layne and James Pierre, a higher-profile undrafted rookie in Chris Steele and a second-year pro in Linden Stephens. And that doesn’t even count Tre Norwood, a safety by trade who is a candidate to play nickel. In other words, the odds are stacked against Platel — and not only just because he went undrafted and unsigned for a full two weeks after the draft. But the scouting reports available on the mostly-unknown prospect indicate Platel is a willing tackler who can blitz and play physical. The Steelers like that in their cornerbacks, so they probably see Platel as a roll of the dice worth taking.

Hey, Steelers Nation, get the latest news about the Pittsburgh Steelers here.