Despite being a first-round selection and the man hand-picked as the heir to Ben Roethlisberger's throne in Pittsburgh, Kenny Pickett has worked as the third-team QB thus far in OTAs.
The pecking order doesn't bother the No. 20 overall pick.
"I didn't think I was going to walk in and be the '1,' right?" Pickett said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "So, it's kind of what I was expecting in coming in here. Earn everything I get. Kind of how it goes in life and in the game, so I am excited to be here."
Pickett will eventually get his chance to compete for the starting gig as the only rookie quarterback selected in the first round. For now, he's working behind Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph early in the offseason process.
Pickett said he's been learning from the two veterans, who have been open to sharing their insights.
"Just little small things here and there," Pickett said. "It's not a formal sitdown, 'Hey man can you give me all the secrets.' It's just if I am going through plays and I am like, 'Hey what did you see here? Why did you do this? What footwork do you like to use here?' All little things like that. We are kind of working together, so everyone is getting better. It's good. It's good competition."
Where he sits in the nascent stages of the offseason is of no importance. For Pickett -- the most pro-ready quarterback in the draft -- it's about learning and working towards being ready for Week 1 come September.
"I am learning and just kind of attacking each day," he said. "I think (the media) makes a bigger deal out of the competition than the players do because we are competing every single day regardless. So I am excited to be part of this team and compete."
As we open the month of June, Pickett taking third-team reps isn't a big deal. If he doesn't leapfrog Trubisky and Rudolph by mid-August, then Steelers fans can begin to fret.
