Kenny Pickett on Rumors He Refused to Be Steelers' Emergency QB: I Followed the Plan | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett addressed reports that he refused to serve as a backup during the team's clash with the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17.

"There was a plan there, for that game," Pickett told reporters on Monday. "It went down exactly the way it was planned to go down that entire week. I was coming off the ankle surgery, so it is what it is."

Eliot Shorr-Parks @EliotShorrParks

Kenny Pickett on the report he refused to dress as the 3rd QB for the Steelers v Seattle <br><br>Says he feels how it's being portrayed is not true and everything that week went as it was planned <a href="">#Eagles</a> <a href="">

Pickett was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles on March 15.

The 25-year-old had previously denied the rumors in the past.

"I saw reports that I feel were attacking, you know, my character and how I am as a person, not even getting to a player's standpoint of it," he said on Jan. 2, per Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. "There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a two. If I was healthy enough to play, the trainers and coaches felt like I was good enough to play, I was going to start and play."

Pickett was reportedly dealt to the Eagles due to his "behavior and expressed unhappiness" after the Steelers signed Russell Wilson as a free agent, putting his status as the team's 2024 starting quarterback in jeopardy (via Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

Philadelphia acquired Pickett as well as a fourth-round pick while sending a third-round selection and two 2025 seventh-round picks to Pittsburgh. He's expected to begin the 2024 season as the Eagles' backup quarterback behind Pro Bowl signal-caller Jalen Hurts.

After he was selected by the Steelers with the No. 20 overall pick in 2022, he was never able to live up to his draft pedigree. In the first two years of Pickett's career, he's completed 62.6 percent of his throws for 2,070 yards while recording just 13 touchdown passes compared to 13 interceptions.