Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith said last week that he thinks the team could have the best defense in the league during the 2023 regular season and his teammate Patrick Peterson seems to share the rosy opinion of the unit.
The veteran cornerback was a guest on The Jim Rome Show recently and he was asked about how he sees the team measuring up to the rest of the league ahead of training camp. Peterson said that he thinks the team has all that it needs on the defensive side of the ball before shifting to the other side.
Peterson pointed out the talent that the team has at various spots on offense before turning his attention to quarterback Kenny Pickett, who Peterson believes holds the key to the team’s success in his hands.
“I do, and what it’s going to come down to is we have all the pieces that we need on defense,” Peterson said. “We know defense wins championships. We have talent across the board on the offensive side of the ball. I believe the front office did a great job of getting what we needed in the draft as far as getting Broderick [Jones] in the first round, a left tackle, young pup who you should expect to see play a lot. You added Allen Robinson, you got Diontae Johnson, you got George Pickens, you got Najee [Harris]. You know it’s all going to come down to how well Kenny can play and can he put the ball where it needs to go. I believe he is a guy that we can rely on, a guy that we can count on. Now it’s all going to fall on him if he can go out there and show us what he’s capable of doing.”
Peterson has seen plenty of quarterbacks over a dozen years in the NFL and the Steelers will be hoping that he’s correctly identified Pickett as a player that the team can count on in 2023.
