INDIANAPOLIS — Wide receiver Jordan Addison doesn’t have much control over his future home, but he supports the idea of teaming with Steelers quarterback and former Pitt teammate Kenny Pickett.
“Hey man, if we reunite, that’d be good,” Addison said at the NFL scouting combine Friday. “That’d be real cool. Real easy transition. Come get me.”
Addison spent two years with Pickett playing for the Panthers in 2020 and 2021 before transferring to USC for his final college season. In 2021, Addison had 1,593 receiving yards with 17 touchdowns, while Pickett was a Heisman finalist and eventual first-round draft pick.
“That’ll help the transition a lot,” Addison said. “Just having your former quarterback, you already got a relationship, No. 1, and then that trust factor. So with him, once you’re running your routes, he’s trusting you to be at a certain spot at the right time.”
Pickett previously advocated for bringing Addison on board with the Steelers.
“We talked about playing in the NFL together while we were at Pitt,” Pickett said in January on the “Not Just Football” podcast hosted by Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward. “That’s like the college teammates’ dream, especially for a quarterback and receiver, that kind of dynamic, especially given how well we played together.”
If the Steelers, who have three picks in the first two rounds, nab Addison, they would continue the trend of reuniting quarterbacks with some of their top college teammates, like the Cincinnati Bengals pairing LSU players Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow and the Philadelphia Eagles bringing together former Alabama teammates Jalen Hurts and wide receiver DeVonta Smith.
“It shows up in the timing and big plays when the pressure’s on,” Addison said of the connection. “Third down, you really can see that chemistry show up.”
Steelers general manager Omar Khan, though, downplayed the college quarterback/receiver connection.
“I think you’re always looking at things like that, but given the offseason that you have and the time guys spend together, I think the transition of new receivers trying to get acclimated to quarterbacks is not a hard process,” Khan said Tuesday. “… But Jordan Addison, he’s a really good football player.”
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