The Football Feed

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett denies stunning claim

He's accused of something serious.

The Football Feed

The Football Feed

The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to earn themselves a massive win on New Year's Eve, defeating the Seattle Seahawks by a 30-23 final score and guaranteeing that head coach Mike Tomlin's streak of winning seasons would not be interrupted. 

However, quarterback Kenny Pickett, who has missed the last handful of games after having suffered a high ankle sprain, was accused of "refusing" to dress as the backup to Mason Rudolph. 

“Just got told that Pickett 100 percent refused to be the backup. That the Steelers writers know that but won’t write it,” Mark Madden of 105.9 in Pittsburgh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

But Pickett adamantly refused that report, saying that it wasn't true whatsoever. 

“I saw reports out there that I felt like were attacking my character and how I am as a person, not even getting into the player standpoint of it,” Pickett told reporters. “There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two. If I was healthy enough to play and the trainers and coaches felt like I would look good enough to play, I was gonna start and play. If they believed I was not, which they believed I was not, I was not gonna dress and suit up for the game."

"It’s kind of crazy what people will write and put out there to try to prove their point or help their standpoint or their careers in what you guys do. Disappointed to see that without any proof or basis of it."

According to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, Pickett's health was suddenly "not an issue" and expressed skepticism of his not dressing on Sunday's game. 

“I’m skeptical of him not dressing [Sunday],” Kaboly said. “That might be the only way I can put it right now. I’m very, very highly skeptical that it was 100 percent Mike Tomlin’s decision that Kenny Pickett did not dress [Sunday.]”

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