Is it Kenny Pickett’s time in Pittsburgh?

Rookie Kenny Pickett is ready to obtain extra snaps in the Steelers’ preseason recreation in opposition to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday, because the competitors for Pittsburgh’s starting QB job continues.

Pickett, who has principally taken snaps with the Steelers’ second unit in follow, acquired first-team reps this week. Still, Mitchell Trubisky is ready to get the beginning nod over Pickett in Saturday’s matchup, coach Mike Tomlin stated Thursday.

“We merely need to see Kenny in extra varsity motion,” Tomlin instructed reporters. “This is an enormous week for [Pickett] in phrases of perhaps getting in the primary half of this recreation and I’d think about getting the chance to see frontline defenders for Jacksonville.”

On Friday’s “The Herd,” Colin Cowherd defined why the opportune time to play Pickett is ahead of later.

“Mike Tomlin, I believe he is seeing what everyone’s seeing,” Cowherd stated. “Everybody in the world knows what Trubisky is. We’ve seen it — highs and lows. Everybody, all these years, in is aware of what Mason Rudolph is. We’ve seen it. The solely quarterback [that] the Steelers have that we actually do not know if it could possibly be particular — as a result of Trubisky and Mason Rudolph are … succesful, not particular — is Kenny Pickett. 

“Why not play him in opposition to the Jags?”

“You know what Trubisky is [and] you understand what Mason Rudolph is,” Cowherd continued. “You do not know what Kenny Pickett is. When are you gonna discover out? I’d discover out in the subsequent two video games that do not rely. Let me see one thing. Put him proper up on the sphere with Trevor Lawrence, and let’s have a look at it. … At this level, a 24-year-old with 4 years beginning, simply received the ACC [championship] — what’re you ready for? We know what’s in the room. He’s the one man [that] we do not know what we get.”

Pickett — the No. 20 choose in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Pittsburgh — had a sparkling debut in the Steelers’ first preseason recreation in opposition to the Seattle Seahawks. He completed the evening with 95 passing yards and two touchdowns on 13-for-15 passing.

Pittsburgh completed final season 9-7-1, good for second in the AFC North, earlier than dropping in the wild-card spherical of the playoffs. That marked the Steelers’ third loss in its first postseason recreation in the previous 4 years. Pittsburgh has not received a playoff recreation because the 2016 season.