There can't be a more prominent variable in the Steelers' offensive progress, from 2022 to the coming season, than the scope and specificity of everything that Kenny Pickett's experiencing this very summer.
Not for him, anyway.
"Oh, no," he'd reply when I brought this up at his stall Thursday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. "There's nothing else that's even close."
There couldn't be. This time a year ago, he was a third-stringer behind Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph. He lined up alongside offensive mates who've probably since gotten jobs at Jiffy Lube. And, not to be lost, he just might've been where he belonged, given a near-zero knowledge of executing the Xs and Os he was still learning, given a near-zero grasp on all the intangibles of becoming an NFL quarterback.
Might as well have been flying blind, right?
Through rookie camp. Through three sets of OTAs. Through minicamp.
It wasn't until after the opening of training camp in Latrobe that Mike Tomlin started setting up Kenny with the twos. And it wasn't until a month into the regular season that Tomlin saw fit to have him start ... at halftime, so he wouldn't even have half a chance to get ready for that.
"The difference between us last year and us this year," Calvin Austin III was telling me, "is Kenny."
I'm in no position to argue with anyone about Kenny's importance, let alone Kenny himself, and I wouldn't try. But I do feel now, upon the closing of this minicamp, that it bears emphasizing that, for all the sweeping change and/or expansion of the offense that the Nation's apparently demanding from rightly beleaguered Matt Canada ... this'll be the one that weighs the most.
Which, by the way, Canada summoned the stones to say himself a couple days ago.
"Kenny's extremely intelligent and I think a lot of that blame always falls to the quarterback, right?," Canada replied when asked to what extent the offense had to be held back to accommodate him. "That's the easy way to look at it to say he was a rookie. But how much more is the whole offense ready to take on? We're better up front, and more experienced. Two years ago, we started a bunch of rookies there."
Yep. The offensive line was a joke in 2021, much less so over the course of 2022.
"So I think, with this offense as a whole," Canada continued, "you're going to see some ... a lot of things expanding because of the ability and the knowledge and the experience they've all gained."
I haven't often sided with the man, but I'm right there. Even if he gets crushed for suggesting his Steve-Smith-coined 'Saturday-ish' offense was simplified for Kenny -- and Canada'd get crushed around here if he cured cancer -- all of the above are plenty plausibe if considering Kenny's early interceptions and two concussions.
It's been supported on the field here, where the drills demonstrated a greater diversity that's reflective not only of greater overall depth but also of Kenny's comfort level in facing more choices. All of a sudden, there were screens, play-action, lots and lots of intermediate throws and, by God, the occasional deep ball. As Austin worded it without divulging details, "We're trying a lot of different stuff, and we're using a lot of different players."
But it's off the field where it became that much clearer, through talks I had with several other players at this minicamp. And none of those was more illuminating, I thought, than the one on this day with Connor Heyward.
I asked, flat-out, if the offense might be more expansive and, as a result, less predictable for opposing defenses.
"Honestly, I think even if they knew what was coming ... we just have a better understanding of what we're doing," the kid began. "And that we're capable now of playing as an 11-man unit, you know? There were times last year where not everybody was on the same page, and it'd mess up the whole picture. And I get that everybody's, you know, on Canada when that happens, but it's on us. It really is. Everybody has to do their job."
If I'd had a dime for every time I'd heard that over here these past couple months, from the offensive guys alone, it'd cover Alex Highsmith's extension.
"That's what it comes down to," Heyward continued. "No one's trying to tell somebody else to do their job. Just worry about doing your own job. And if we do that, I think we'll be fine."
So that's it?
"There's more to it," he'd close with a smile. "You'll see."
ALL-STEELERS EDITION
• A general consensus emerged over these offseason workouts that Kenny's throwing a better ball now. Not necessarily more/less zip but, rather, placing it where and when it needs to be placed.
• Diontae Johnson kept mostly to himself when off the field, but overall, no one exhibited a more visible determination at any position. My goodness, what a worker. And it's always worth citing in these cases that he's seeking that one big extension.
• Anyone fretting over inside linebacker ... that's very fair. But know, too, that there's a strong sentiment in the safeties little corner of this locker room -- really, they're all squeezed in around Minkah Fitzpatrick, which is pretty neat -- that the three-safety thing, adding Keanu Neal to the mix with Minkah and Damontae Kazee, could be real enough that pass coverage would be minimized for anyone in front of them.
• Neal didn't have much for me on that front when I brought up on this day -- "We'll see" was all I got -- but we did have fun shooting this 90-second video at his stall:
• There's never a pleasant way to ask a positional coach if the players he's coaching aren't being respected on the outside -- the inside linebackers were rated the NFL's worst by Pro Football Focus last week, and I don't know of anyone else who's holding Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts a lot higher than that -- but Aaron Curry handled my question on this deftly:
Good for him, huh?
• Omar Khan's not done at inside linebacker.
• Expect a ton of two-tight-end sets. Which would be just fine by Pat Freiermuth, as he'd tell me on this day, motioning over toward Darnell Washington towering at a nearby stall: "We're very comfortable with that. You can see what he brings. He made some plays today that caught everyone's attention. He blocks. He does the little stuff. I think we can be a handful."
• Washington confirmed for me, per the reporting regulations for a practice, that one of those plays was a fine catch down the left sideline in which he spun back to face the throw and hung on through a hard crash to the ground: "I felt better every day out there."
• The same, palpably, applied to Broderick Jones, who both looked and sounded so much more sure of himself with each passing day. Including in the locker room, where his stall's planted near that of Dan Moore, the incumbent starter at left tackle. The demeanor wasn't like that in the opening week of OTAs a month ago.
• Two important veteran additions showed just enough at mostly-different-for-them positions in these summer workouts -- Allen Robinson as a slot receiver, Patrick Peterson as a slot corner -- that it's at least reasonable to expect they'd be able to make more complete moves to such roles, if needed, in Latrobe.
• There's now a 40-day gap until the players report to Saint Vincent College, and that means no access, no interviews, nothing, which is why I opted to go hard on football this week leading into my flight today up to Milwaukee to cover Pirates-Brewers this weekend. The usual format will return next Friday.
• Thanks for reading Insider!
