Steelers' Cam Heyward Gives His Insider Take On The Kenny Pickett Drama: "I Don't Think That's True At All"

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was at the center of a controversy about whether he didn't want to back up Mason Rudolph when the team beat the Seattle Seahawks 30-23. Pickett condemned the speculation during a press conference on Tuesday that he asked to be made inactive over being the second quarterback. Steelers' longtime defensive leader Cam Heyward also strongly denounced the notion that Pickett didn't want to be a backup on his podcast.

Heyward was joined on the Not Just Football podcast on Tuesday by teammate and Pittsburgh long-snapper Christian Kuntz and both were not impressed by the rumor. Heyward said Pickett texted him about it, and he was just in shock. 

"I don't think that's true at all," Heyward said. "My understanding was that if Kenny [Pickett] was going to be out there [against Seattle], he was going to be out there. I can't believe we are even talking about this."  

Kuntz agreed with Heyward that the whole situation seems ridiculous. While it was obvious that Pickett, being the competitor he is, wanted to play in an important game for the team's playoff fate in Seattle, the decision was not his to make. 

It was up to Head Coach Mike Tomlin at the end of the day and he said on Monday that he didn't feel like Pickett had got the proper reps in practice. 

"It's hilarious what gets made up," Kuntz said. "People actually believe it. I got so many texts about how this can't be right."  

When host Hayden Walsh asked the pair point blank whether Pickett didn't want to be a backup, they both dismissed it. Heyward went as far as saying that he'd never heard anything related to that for a day of his life.    

Steelers' Heyward Wants The Focus To Be On The Task At Hand

The Steelers have a big game in Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens on the schedule with a potential playoff berth on the line. The team will have to take care of business against their hated division rival before they can worry about getting help from some other clubs to earn them a spot in the postseason dance. Heyward said the distraction of having rumors that could potentially divide the looker room out there at a time like this is asinine. 

He questioned how something like this even happened. He seemed almost as annoyed as Pickett that someone out there was trying to damage the young quarterback's character with this speculation that he didn't want to be a backup. 

"Why is this even a story," Heyward asked. "Can we just worry about the d**n playoffs? We've got enough to focus on the Ravens man. We need to win this game and there's a scenario where we can get in the playoffs. Can't that just be enough? Do you really need to go find, 'Kenny's not starting, now let's find something else.' I'm just over it at that point." 

Tomlin's comments on how Pickett took the situation with him being inactive on Sunday against the Seahawks did little to squash the rumor. He said that he imagines everybody is focused on the team's success and implied Pickett's understanding of playing Rudolph while he's hot. 

Pickett is slated, it looks like, to be the backup to Rudolph on Saturday against the Ravens, likely making Mitch Trubisky inactive for the first time in his two seasons in Pittsburgh. He could still be the emergency quarterback on game day, but would only play if injuries knocked out Rudolph and Pickett. 

Do you agree with Heyward that the focus needs to be on securing a playoff spot instead of speculating on rumors? Are you surprised he addressed the situation the way he did? Comment below!  

 #SteelerNation