PHOTO BY KARL ROSER | PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Much as I long to move on from the saga of Kenny Pickett, events of this week make it impossible not to pause and wonder — yet again — what might have been.

The specific trigger was the NFL’s mandatory roster reduction to 53 on Tuesday.

When the dust initially settled after that tsunami of league-wide transactions, Pickett was a member of the Las Vegas Raiders and a quarterback named Skylar Thompson remained on the Steelers’ roster.

The Raiders, remarkably, are the third new team Pickett has joined after he was drafted 20th overall by the Steelers in 2022.

The Steelers, to be certain, are culpable in Pickett’s rapid free fall from chosen successor to Ben Roethlisberger to first-round bust. Pickett’s first offensive coordinator in the NFL was with Matt Canada.

In retrospect, Pickett deserved better.

But had he shown more determination and less entitlement, that problem might have solved itself eventually.

In fact, it did.

But as it turned out the ultimate deal-breaker turned out to be intangibles much more than it did ability or Pickett’s (relatively) tiny hands.

Remember Pickett-to-Najee Harris for what would become the game-winning touchdown with 56 seconds left in regulation on Jan. 1, 2023 in Baltimore?

Remember Pickett-to-George Pickens for what wound up standing as the decisive, 41-yard strike and the exclamation point on a 14-point fourth quarter with 1:17 remaining in regulation that beat the Ravens on Oct. 8, 2023 at Acrisure Stadium?

For a Steelers quarterback, it doesn’t get any bigger than that.

Not in the regular season, at least.

The rest of it should have been cream cheese.

It wasn’t because when the going got tough, Pickett got going. He admittedly didn’t learn anything watching from the sidelines while injured. He brooded over the Steelers’ decision to stick with the hot hand, Mason Rudolph, during a three-game run that dramatically delivered the Steelers into the playoffs in 2023.

And finally, rather than run to the competition created by the Steelers’ acquisition of veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, Pickett ran away from it.

And none of that can be blamed on Canada.

Remember training camp 2024 and the infamous Wilson-vs.-the-weighted sled confrontation?

Justin Fields wound up starting the first six games last season while Wilson convalesced.

That could have been Pickett had he not recoiled at the Wilson acquisition, had he not wanted out because of it and had the Steelers not acquiesced and traded him to Philadelphia.

What might Pickett have done with such an opportunity as a third-year pro and with Arthur Smith calling the offensive shots? Enough to convince the Steelers that Pickett had been worth their initial investment all along? Enough to keep Wilson, a place holder at the position to begin with, sidelined all season? Enough to commence the Pickett Era in Pittsburgh in earnest?

Alas, we’ll never know.

This much we know: Pickett’s on his third team in two seasons since leaving the Steelers.

And Thompson, a seventh-round pick by Miami the same year the Steelers made Pickett a top 20 selection, has taken up residency in the Steelers’ QB room.

Thompson arrived with 10 career regular-season games and three career regular-season starts on his NFL resume, and also a 34-31 playoff loss to the Bills in January of 2023 in which Thompson completed 18 of 45 passes for 220 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

He was signed to a reserve/futures contract, which implied zero expectations on the Steelers’ part.

And had draftee Will Howard not been injured in training camp, Thompson never would have gotten the opportunity he did in the preseason.

But Howard came up unavailable and Thompson made the most of his unlikely shot. He practiced, he prepared and he competed as if he thought he had a chance, and as if, for Thompson, at least, having a chance was more than enough.

It’s temporary and it may not lead anywhere from here, but Thompson at least has a seat at the table.

Pickett does, too, landing a backup job in Vegas because the Raiders found themselves temporarily in need of a healthy No. 2.

If only Pickett had Thompson’s tenacity.

Maybe Pickett will get there eventually.

But he won’t until he’s the one who finally grows tired of wondering what might have been.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.