Kenny Pickett Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

The Bears are trading a 2nd-round pick to the Steelers in exchange for WR Chase Claypool, ESPN's Field Yates reports. It's a steep price for a guy who's been mostly disappointing since a flashy rookie season. Claypool ranks 52nd among 62 qualifying WRs in Pro Football Focus' 2022 receiving grades. His 1.03 yards per route run ranks 57th -- a bit behind teammates Diontae Johnson (1.16) and George Pickens (1.14). Of course, Claypool is still just 24 and brings a 6'4, 238-pound frame with 99th percentile athleticism. There's still intriguing fantasy upside here. Chicago is obviously a rough landing spot, though. QB Justin Fields has been better lately but remains a question mark as a passer. And this is the league's run-heaviest offense. The Bears rank dead last with just 20.0 pass attempts per game. That's climbed to 22.8 over the last 5 weeks -- but that's still not a workable number for Claypool. Consider him a WR4 unless we get a significant increase in passing volume from Chicago. Claypool's departure from Pittsburgh should mean more targets for Johnson, Pickens and TE Pat Freiermuth.

The Steelers managed just 196 passing yards on 40 attempts (4.9 per attempt) in Sunday's lopsided loss to the Eagles. QB Kenny Pickett threw for 191 yards and an INT while taking 6 sacks. WR Diontae Johnson led the team with 9 targets, catching 5 for just 35 yards. TE Pat Freiermuth checked in 2nd with 7 targets and led the team with 57 receiving yards (on 4 catches). WR Chase Claypool posted a 4-45 receiving line on 6 targets. Rookie WR George Pickens managed 0 catches on 3 targets. The team's lone TD came on a 1-yard pass from Claypool to FB Derek Watt. The Week 9 bye will probably be good for this team.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett threw for just 257 yards, 1 TD and 3 INTs in Sunday night's loss to the Dolphins. The 72.7% completion rate was nice, but the mere 5.8 yards per pass attempt reveals that the rookie passer couldn't get anything going deep. WR Chase Claypool said after the game that he believes the offense needs "more go balls" to take advantage of the WR talent. We can't argue with that, though it remains to be seen whether Pickett can support his wideouts in that area. Claypool followed a strong Week 6 with a pedestrian 5-41 receiving line on 8 targets. WR Diontae Johnson caught 5 of his team-high 10 targets for 42 yards. WR George Pickens caught all 6 of his looks for 61 yards, including an athletic grab in the end zone for the team's only TD. Pittsburgh gets a tough matchup at Philadelphia in Week 8.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett (concussion) put in a full week of practice and isn’t listed on the final injury report. He’ll start on Sunday night vs. Miami’s 20th-ranked QB defense. The rookie is only an option in 2-QB and Superflex leagues.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett (concussion) and TE Pat Freiermuth (concussion) put in full practices again on Thursday. Both guys remain on track to play vs. the Dolphins on Sunday night.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett (concussion) got in a full practice on Wednesday. HC Mike Tomlin said the rookie will start vs. the Dolphins on Sunday night if he clears concussion protocol -- and he seems on track. We'll get another update on Pickett tomorrow.

Steelers QB Kenny Pickett exited for a concussion check in the 3rd quarter of Sunday's game vs. the Bucs. We'll update his status when we know more. QB Mitchell Trubisky is in for Pittsburgh.

Update: Pickett has been ruled out with a concussion.

Steelers rookie QB Kenny Pickett threw for 327 yards, with 0 TDs and an INT in Sunday's loss to the Bills. He completed 34 of 52 attempts while taking 3 sacks in the 38-3 defeat. Pickett threw 8+ targets apiece to George Pickens, Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool. He draws another challenging matchup in Week 6 with Tampa Bay, which hit Week 5 ranked 3rd in Football Outsiders' pass-defense DVOA.

NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reports that Steelers coaches have encouraged QB Kenny Pickett "all week" to continue taking shots downfield in his starting debut at Buffalo today. Pickett didn't hesitate to throw deep in his 1st regular-season action vs. the Jets last week. That helped lead to 3 INTs. This is good news for fantasy football, though. Pickett may well turn the ball over against a tough Bills defense, but throwing deeper presents more yardage and scoring upside for Pittsburgh's WR targets. There will be risk to playing anyone in the Steelers offense in this matchup. Myriad injuries in the Buffalo secondary help the upside as well, though. We're not playing Pickett in fantasy football lineups, but his 203.5 passing-yards line is interesting for Underdog Pick Ems, with his team likely to be chasing most of the day.

The Steelers are moving forward with Kenny Pickett as their starting QB, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. It's the logical move after the rookie led Pittsburgh to a pair of TDs in the 2nd half of Sunday's loss to the Jets. Pickett tossed 3 INTs in that one -- but 1 went of TE Pat Freiermuth's hands and the other was an end-of-game Hail Mary. Pickett sits 12th among 34 QBs in Pro Football Focus' Week 4 passing grades (with the Monday night game still to go). He's only an option in 2-QB fantasy leagues for now, but we think he'll be an upgrade over QB Mitchell Trubisky for this Pittsburgh offense. Of course, it'll be tough sledding this weekend in Buffalo

The Steelers have removed QB Mitchell Trubisky from their game against the Jets and inserted rookie Kenny Pickett. We'll see how this initial appearance goes and what HC Mike Tomlin says afterward, but don't be surprised if this switch becomes permanent. Trubisky has continued to play like Trubisky through the early part of this season. That included going 7 of 13 passing against the Jets, for 84 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport hears that the Steelers will give QB Mitchell Trubisky a "long look" as the starter. 1st-round rookie QB Kenny Pickett had a strong preseason, but according to Rapoport, the Steelers would like this to play out like it did for Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, with Trubisky starting all year and Pickett taking over in 2023. We'll see if Trubisky can play well enough to make that happen. We're still betting on seeing Pickett this year.

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin officially named QB Mitch Trubisky the starter for Sunday's opener vs. the Bengals. He played well enough in the preseason to hold off a hard-charging Kenny Pickett. “We're really comfortable with what Mitch has shown us," Tomlin said. We're still expecting Pickett to take over at some point this season. In the meantime, Trubisky's rushing ability and weaponry gives him some QB2 appeal.