Mike Tomlin Breaks Silence On Kenny Pickett Trade

After another mediocre season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, longtime team owner Art Rooney II made it clear that he demands more from his team and that things need to change moving forward to avoid first-round losses in the NFL playoffs.

That said, the team has been hard at work trying to make those changes during the NFL offseason, and one of those changes was thought to be the team parting ways with longtime head coach Mike Tomlin to bring a new voice to the locker room.

However, the Steelers chose to hold onto Tomlin for at least one season and put all of their focus into upgrading the quarterback position, which became the biggest problem for the team during the 2023 campaign.

The team didn’t waste any time in making a move to address the quarterback situation as the Steelers signed veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, acquired Justin Fields in a trade with the Chicago Bears, and traded Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The move to trade Pickett was the biggest surprise along with bringing in Fields after signing Wilson, and Tomlin recently opened up about why the move was made, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN.

“From his perspective, he felt like a change of scenery would be a good thing. Obviously when we felt the trajectory of the business with Chicago moving in the right direction, those dominoes started falling,” Tomlin said.

Mike Tomlin on the decision to deal Kenny Pickett: "From his perspective, he felt like a change of scenery would be a good thing. Obviously when we felt the trajectory of the business with Chicago moving in the right direction, those dominoes started falling."

"I won't get into…

— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) March 24, 2024

With Pickett seemingly getting nowhere in Pittsburgh and Rooney getting frustrated with the results, making these moves could be a step in the right direction for the storied franchise.

Unfortunately for Pickett, it’s uncertain if he’ll ever get another shot to be a starter in the NFL, as he’ll now backup superstar Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia, who’ll likely be the starter for a very long time.