Steelers insider reveals breaking point in Kenny Pickett's exit: "Mike Tomlin wants volunteers not hostages"

Trading Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles means that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback room for the 2024 NFL season will be totally different than last year.

Retaining Pickett while Russell Wilson took over starting quarterback duties could have helped the former first-round pick’s confidence. Instead, the Steelers continued to revamp their rotation at the game’s most important position by trading for Justin Fields.

However, the Steelers did not ship Pickett away on impulse. But as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalist Gerry Dulac shared, Pickett’s behavior led to the trade that earned Pittsburgh a 2024 third-round pick and two 2025 seventh-round selections.

Dulac shared with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen on the March 18 episode of “The Rich Eisen Show”:

“Kenny Pickett is just upset and unhappy... He was upset, started acting, in their opinion, not the way they would have expected... We've heard Mike Tomlin say before Rich, he wants volunteers not hostages. And if Kenny Pickett was going to behave that way, and felt that he didn't want to stand up and fight, then they were going to get rid of him. And they did.”

The Steelers selected the former University of Pittsburgh standout with the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. While much has been said about his hand size, Pickett was an exciting prospect because he was a First Team All-American, ACC Player of the Year, and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award recipient in 2021.

But after his second season with Pittsburgh, Kenny Pickett threw the same number of touchdowns as interceptions (13). He had a 14-10 record and a 62.6 completion percentage as a starter but lost the role to Mason Rudolph.

As Dulac pointed out, there’s no one to blame for Pickett’s departure from Pittsburgh but himself.

“He basically did it to himself Rich, by things he said and you know, his attitude... They just thought at this point they weren't going to put up with it. And some of that goes back to last year Rich with the way he handled not getting his starting job back after Mason Rudolph came in and all of a sudden made the offense look like an NFL offense, something it wasn't doing when Kenny Pickett was healthy.”

Aside from Pickett getting traded, Mason Rudolph signed a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans, while Mitchell Trubisky rejoined the Buffalo Bills on a two-year contract.

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Steelers have a cap-friendly quarterback room after Kenny Pickett’s exit

Pickett would have counted for $1,983,900 against the Steelers’ salary cap if he remained on the roster this season. While that’s a bargain deal for a quarterback, Pittsburgh will have two players for $2.8 million.

Fields’s base salary in 2024 will be $1,616,724 based on the rookie scale contract he signed with the Chicago Bears.

Meanwhile, Wilson signed with the Steelers for a one-year veteran minimum ($1.2 million) deal because the Denver Broncos will pay him $37.8 million this season as part of his five-year, $242.5 million contract extension.

After Kenny Pickett’s exit, the cap-friendly quarterback contracts give the Steelers $15.6 million in cap space. That’s enough money to sign the rookies they’ll get from the 2024 NFL Draft.