After Kenny Pickett’s knee injury went from looking potentially season ending, to maybe a few weeks, to now nothing at all, it looks more and more like Kenny might actually play on Sunday.

He was officially listed as a limited participant in practices this week, and sported a knee brace while on the practice field, but Pickett himself has said that he will be ready to go by Sunday.

As good as it is that Pickett’s injury looks minimal and that he may not have to miss time, it’s in the best interest of the team to not have Pickett start on Sunday.

Pickett has had a miserable season to date, ranking among the lowest quarterbacks in the league after four weeks of play. He’s 77/127 on the season for 803 yards through the air. He has 4 touchdowns to match 4 interceptions, and has a QB rating of 29.3, which is horrifying.

Pickett has been a shell of himself this season so far, with all of his previously known about flaws consuming his game on the field. He’s bailing from clean pockets, running and spinning himself into sacks, and missing open receivers.

It’s hard to imagine that the struggles of the offense don’t have Pickett in his head a little. Add an injury to his knee, and that only gets worse.

With limited mobility, Pickett is, in my opinion, going to be even more jittery in the pocket. He’s going to bail on clean pockets even earlier and try to run for open grass haphazardly.

You can argue, successfully, that a fully healthy Kenny Pickett is better than Mitch Trubisky. But you cannot argue that a 75%/80% healthy Pickett is better than Trubisky.

The Steelers need to put Mitch in on Sunday against the Ravens.

I think some people forget how he managed the offense when he took over for an injured Kenny last year vs the Ravens. The interceptions deep in opposing territory are incredibly hard to downplay, but Mitch had that offense moving up and down the field. When he wasn’t throwing picks he was throwing darts to receivers, and connecting on a lot of them.

Trubisky has never been afraid to sling it, whether it ends up in his guy’s hands or not, and even though that had very mixed results against Baltimore last year, when it worked it was quite effective.

For Pickett, he needs a rest. Both physically, and mentally.

Physically, both he and the Steelers should not risk the knee injury coming back. No matter what he says, he’s not going to be 100% on Sunday if he takes the field, and that’s not going to be good for anybody.

Regardless of his poor play so far this year, he is still the franchise’s first round pick from a year ago, and is still the future (for right now, anyways) of this team.

The Steelers have a bye next week, and by giving Pickett the day off Sunday, he has two weeks for that knee of his to fully heal up, and then come back after the bye.

That two week break would help him mentally as well. Some time to recalibrate and really assess what he can do better, I think, would do him a lot of good.

To address this question before it comes up: yes, it becomes more complicated of Trubisky plays lights out.

If Mitch cooks, and I mean COOKS, then perhaps he can force his way into a bit of a quarterback controversy in Pittsburgh, but that’s a question we can argue about after we see him play.

In my own opinion, if Trubisky were to play on Sunday, I don’t see the Steelers going back to him after the bye, regardless of how well he plays.

Pickett needs a break, and just time to reset. Putting out a hobbled Kenny out there against the Ravens defense is not the answer.

(Featured photo of Mitch Trubisky, left, and Kenny Pickett, right, by Charles LeClaire-USA Today Sports)