The Pittsburgh Steelers made what feels like an unprecedented move by signing veteran, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson to a one-year contract. In the past, the Steelers have built a brand out of “standing by their man.” This has worked to their benefit over the years, for example, with head coaches. The Steelers have only had three head coaches in more than 50 years. This kind of continuity allowed the team to become an organization that prides itself on excellence and winning, amassing a whopping six Super Bowl trophies.

However, there may be times when this loyalty works to their detriment. That’s exactly what the team at 93.7 The Fan is suggesting happened with former Offensive Coordinator, Matt Canada. The co-hosts of The Fan Morning Show, Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson, recently said they think this loyalty was a major contributor to the failure of Kenny Pickett.

“What’s crazy, you see this in the NFL, but you see it with the Steelers with how they’ve operated, and how they are going to be different moving forward, they are basically admitting they messed up. They never admit that. They are admitting it hasn’t worked out how we planned,” said Dickerson.

Crowley agreed and said that he believes the team let Pickett down by keeping Canada as long as they did. Canada was promoted to offensive coordinator after a single season as the team’s quarterback coach in 2021. That happened to be future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger‘s 18th and final season. While people were not happy with the play-calling Canada’s first season, it was passed off as Roethlisberger being difficult. But when we saw the same things occurring with Pickett, people realized it might not be the quarterback.

When they drafted Pickett in 2022, the team presented it like they found the future face of the franchise. Unfortunately, Pickett struggled to move the ball up and down the field and to put points on the board. At the end of 2023, Pickett was outpaced by third string quarterback Mason Rudolph, and ended up being benched for the final games of the regular season, despite being healthy enough to play.

Crowley said that he understands how Wilson presents an upgrade from Pickett and Rudolph, but feels that it comes at Pickett’s expense. The team had an obligation to properly develop him when they drafted him, and they let him down.

“There’s gonna be a lot of people today that say they made a mistake drafting him 20th overall, and maybe they did. But they failed Kenny Pickett too. By not moving on from Matt Canada after Ben’s final season, by not moving on from Matt Canada after Kenny’s rookie season, by waiting until halfway through his second year to move on, they did not give this guy the best opportunity to succeed. It does show you just how bad they screwed Kenny up with one of the worst offensive coordinators the league has ever seen,” ranted Crowley.

That doesn’t take away from the Wilson signing being the right thing to do. Crowley pointed out that he sees it as a positive move in the right direction, adding that Wilson will make less money than Gunner Olszewski.

Wilson signed a deal taking the league’s veteran minimum, which is $1.21 million. That means that Wilson, who will almost certainly be the starter, will make less than Pickett, who makes about $1.98 million and will likely serve as his backup.

The Steelers Signing Wilson Almost Certainly Means The End For Mason Rudolph

Prior to the Wilson rumors popping up, the most popular conversation regarding the Steelers was Rudolph vs. Pickett. Now that the team has announced they are bringing Wilson on board, it likely means that Rudolph’s time in Pittsburgh is over.

After being drafted by the Steelers in 2018 in the third-round of the NFL Draft, Rudolph has become a perennial backup. Before he came in for a struggling Mitch Trubisky in 2023, he wasn’t even sure if he would be in the NFL in 2024, joking that he might be selling commercial real estate. However, he outperformed any quarterback in Black and Gold since Roethlisberger retired, winning the last three games in 2023 and helping propel the Steelers into the playoffs.