The Steelers announced their team captains for the 2023 season on Monday, and the list includes Kenny Pickett. The quarterback earned the honor in his second season.
It took Ben Roethlisberger until his fifth season to become a team captain.
“The way he approaches each day, the way he grasps the offense, he really has a voice,” left tackle Dan Moore said, via Joe Rutter of the Tribune-Review. “I talk to a lot of guys about it. Kenny has ‘it.’ I don’t know what that ‘it’ is, but he has it.”
Pickett, who was a team captain in his final two years at the University of Pittsburgh, replaces running back Najee Harris and quarterback Mitch Trubisky as the offensive captain. Harris and Trubisky wore the captain logo a year ago.
The Steelers also named defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, outside linebacker T.J. Watt and core special teams player Miles Killebrew as captains for 2023.
Heyward, who, at 34, is the team’s oldest player, earned the captaincy for the ninth consecutive season. Watt is a defensive captain for the third time in seven seasons and second year in a row.
It’s the second year in a row Killebrew is captain of the special teams.
