In an absolute stunner, the Pittsburgh Steelers have traded quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles in a pick swap type of deal.

The official deal goes as follows:

Eagles reiceve: QB Kenny Pickett, pick No. 120

Steelers receive: pick No. 98, two seventh round picks in 2025

The embattled first round pick from two years ago seemingly lost his claim to the starter’s role in the 2024 season after the Steelers signed Russell Wilson to a one year deal.

Per reporting from Gerry Dulac, Pickett had reacted poorly to the Steelers’ signing of Wilson, which coincides with reporting from Adam Schefter that Pickett had “preferred to move on” after the Steelers brought in Wilson.

Pickett went 7-5 as the starter last season, completing 62% of his passes for just over 2,000 yards. He had 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

Despite winning games and putting together some late game heroics, the Steelers were often winning games in spite of Pickett rather than due to him. And this has been a theme over Pickett’s entire NFL career to date.

He threw more than a single touchdown just once in 24 starts as a quarterback, and recorded 13 touchdowns in 25 games over two seasons. He struggled with the easy throws and a bad case of happy feet, both things that commonly got him flack from Steelers fans.

Pickett kept you wanting more. He would miss five easy throws, and then engineer a late game drive to win the game. He would spin around into sacks, but then roll out and make a big time throw to George Pickens or Diontae Johnson.

But in the end, it just wasn’t enough. And even as Pickett continued to show flash in the pan moments, they were far too rare in his time as the Steelers’ starter.

There is a very real case to be made about how botched his development was. The team abandoned the plan to have him sit and watch just 3.5 games into his rookie year, while also saddling him with maybe the worst offensive coordinator in NFL history.

But even after all of that, the Steelers owed it to guys like Cam Heyward, TJ Watt, and Minkah Fitzpatrick to try and upgrade football’s most valued position. If the Steelers were going to get another year of the same level of play that Pickett, that’s another year of aging defensive stars not getting any closer to a Super Bowl.

TJ and Minkah, who will turn 30 and 28 respectively during next season, have not won a playoff game in their NFL careers. They still are both incredibly productive players, but the Steelers do not have endless time with them.

Is Russell Wilson the guy who can change the Steelers’ fortunes and take them on a deep playoff run? It’s a great topic for sports debate, but we truly do not know.

Is Russell Wilson a clear upgrade over present day-Kenny Pickett? Absolutely.

It was the fastest the Steelers have moved on from a first round pick since tackle Jamain Stephens, who was taken 26th overall back in the 1996 draft.

For Pickett, he becomes the newest poster boy for the changes that general manager Omar Khan hasn’t been afraid to make. Pickett joined a list of underperforming players such as Mitch Trubisky, Allen Robinson, Mason Cole, and Pressley Harvin, who previous Steelers regimes may have retained, but Khan opted to move on from.

The only difference for Pickett was that the Steelers were able to get something in exchange for him.

Pickett goes to the team he grew up rooting for, appearing to be the backup to Jalen Hurts. He will take over for the departing Marcus Mariota.

(Featured photo of Kenny Pickett by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)