{"id":680112,"date":"2026-01-15T20:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/680112\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T20:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:39:17","slug":"the-kenny-pickett-route-all-over-again-steelers-hesitantly-paired-with-qb-in-new-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/680112\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Kenny Pickett Route All Over Again?:&#8217; Steelers Hesitantly Paired With QB In New Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you don\u2019t have a quarterback, you search high and low for one. Sometimes, you reach for one. That was the concern in 2022 when outgoing GM Kevin Colbert and the Pittsburgh Steelers organization grabbed Pitt QB Kenny Pickett in the first round. It turned out to be a missed pick in one of the worst quarterback classes of the last 20 years. In hindsight, a reach to fill need over value. The Athletic\u2019s Dane Brugler believes same story could play out. In his latest mock draft, he pairs the Steelers with Alabama QB Ty Simpson but shows his hesitancy in doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is going to be a popular pairing in mock drafts over the next four months,\u201d Brugler <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6963452\/2026\/01\/15\/nfl-mock-draft-2026-mendoza-dante-moore\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in his Thursday morning exercise.<\/a> \u201cThe Steelers presumably <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6965435\/2026\/01\/13\/aaron-rodgers-steelers-texans-retirement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">will be looking for a starting quarterback<\/a> this offseason, and Simpson is expected to land somewhere in the back half of the first round. Would this be the Kenny Pickett route all over again? Maybe. But Simpson processes his surroundings well, especially considering his meager starting experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The good news is Pittsburgh <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/01\/colin-cowherd-urges-steelers-to-trade-six-draft-picks-for-alabama-qb-ty-simpson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">isn\u2019t trading six picks<\/a> for Simpson.<\/p>\n<p>He figures to be the most-discussed quarterback in connection to the Steelers throughout draft season. Indiana\u2019s Fernando Mendoza is poised to be taken No. 1 overall and Oregon\u2019s Dante Moore chose back to school. Ole Miss\u2019 Trinidad Chambliss\u2019 situation is murky as he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/college-football\/news\/ole-miss-qb-trinidad-chambliss-sue-ncaa-2026-eligibility\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">takes the NCAA to court<\/a> in an attempt to go back for a sixth season.<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza and Simpson are the only two quarterbacks selected in the first round of Brugler\u2019s mock.<\/p>\n<p>A one-year starter, Simpson\u2019s stock rose throughout the 2025 season. He finished with over 3,500 yards, 28 touchdowns, and five interceptions. But he struggled down the stretch, playing poorly in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia and again in the playoffs against Indiana before leaving the game with a cracked rib. The one-year sample size coupled with a sour finish could give teams pause.<\/p>\n<p>Pickett, for all his warts, had a far more extensive body of work. Simpson threw 523 college passes. Pickett attempted 1,674 and for comparison\u2019s sake, Ben Roethlisberger recorded 1,304 in just three seasons.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll offer a full scouting report on Simpson in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Other notable selections in Brugler\u2019s mock include two receivers landing in the top five with Ohio State\u2019s Carnell Tate going No. 4 to the Tennessee Titans and Arizona State\u2019s Jordan Tyson No. 5 to the New York Giants. Ohio State S Caleb Downs falls to No. 9 and the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you don\u2019t have a quarterback, you search high and low for one. Sometimes, you reach for one.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[4955,52230,7,570,57,691,20708],"class_list":["post-680112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-dane-brugler","tag-football","tag-kenny-pickett","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-trending","tag-ty-simpson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115901049428119178","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}