The entire world hoped to see the Commanders and Bills face off in Super Bowl 59, but the football gods had other plans. Super Bowl 59 is a clash between the Philadephia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. It will be a Super Bowl 57 rematch and a former Steelers player is guaranteed to win a ring. They never played together in Pittsburgh but on February 9th one of them will be a Super Bowl champion.
The Steelers selected Juju Smith-Schuster in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft and he was an impact player in Pittsburgh. In 2018, Smith-Schuster made a Pro Bowl appearance and posted 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns on 111 receptions. He spent five seasons in Pittsburgh before leaving in free agency to play for the Chiefs. The Steelers couldn’t come up with the money that he felt he deserved.
Smith-Schuster was a part of the 2022 Chiefs team that beat the Eagles in Super Bowl 57. He had seven receptions for 53 yards in the Super Bowl, helping secure his first career championship. The pass catcher played 16 games that season and caught 78 passes for 933 yards and three touchdowns. His season was good enough to get him a new contract in free agency with the Patriots.
In just one season with the Patriots, Smith-Schuster played only 11 games. He caught 29 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown. The Patriots cut him in the offseason, leading him right back to Kansas City this season. The former Chief returned and caught 18 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns. In the AFC Championship game against the Bills, Smith-Schuster caught two passes for 60 yards. Now he’ll get a chance to get his second Super Bowl ring.
Pittsburgh drafted Kenny Pickett with the 20th overall pick in the 2022 draft. Unfortunately, for all parties involved, things didn’t work out. Pickett played 25 games as a Steeler, throwing 13 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and 179 passing yards per game. The Steelers went 14-10 when he started. At the end of his second season in Pittsburgh, they brought in Russell Wilson to compete with Pickett for the job.
Pickett wasn’t a fan of that and wanted nothing to do with it. The Steelers traded him to the Eagles for the draft pick they used to get Payton Wilson. As Mike Tomlin says, the Steelers are looking for volunteers, not hostages. The Pickett experiment was over in Pittsburgh and they had two new quarterbacks. The kid from Pitt was getting shipped to the other side of Pennsylvania.
The trade sent Pickett to be the backup for Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia. He appeared in five games for the NFC powerhouse Eagles, throwing for 291 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception while completing 59.5% of his passes. He didn’t get to start, but he’s on the verge of becoming a Super Bowl champion for his childhood team. Over his career, Pickett has thrown 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, averaging 158.8 passing yards per game.
The conference championship games included former Steelers players on all four teams. These two will get the chance to play for the trophy but the other two were sent home. Jeremy McNichols and Mitch Trubisky both had short stints in Pittsburgh, but now find themselves with the Commanders and Bills. Now those two get to join their former team in Cancun while Smith-Schuster or Pickett will get to lift the Lombardi Trophy.
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