Excited for the growth

QB 1: A year ago, Coach Mike Tomlin was headed into the offseason with uncertainty at the quarterback position after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, but stated he was excited to see how things played out.

A year later it’s a much different scenario at the quarterback spot, with rookie Kenny Pickett having a strong season after he stepped in as the starter in Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills.

With a year under his belt, Tomlin said the key now for Pickett is to keep moving forward.

“Here in Pittsburgh, we value the growth that has the potential to happen between Year 1 and Year 2,” said Tomlin. “It’s natural. They’re no longer speculating about what this is. They’ve had a lap around the track. They’ve been in some hot situations. They’ve had some positive results. They’ve had some negative results. They understand the totality of this in terms of the toll that it takes on them, mentally, physically, emotionally.

“I think all of those things that encompass the experience that is a rookie season is a good springboard to get better and to obviously do it with a quarterback, I’m really excited about that.”

Pickett, the Steelers No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, has established himself as the team’s top quarterback, but when asked if that classifies him as the team’s ‘franchise quarterback,’ Tomlin wasn’t going there.

“You know, I don’t know what you guys mean by franchise quarterback,” said Tomlin. “Is he our QB1? Yes. But there’s a lot of silly responsibility that comes with that term. Everybody thinks they’ve got one, but not everybody has one and all of that. He’s our starting quarterback. I’m not going to saddle him with that cliche that’s overused in our game, in our business too much these days.”