Who Gets Invited to Kenny Pickett's Wedding?

As seen everywhere on Pittsburgh Steelers fan sites and social media, quarterback Kenny Pickett got married over the weekend. Congratulations to Kenny and his bride Amy! Kenny Pickett signed a contract for $14 million including a $7 million signing bonus, so money probably wasn't an issue for his nuptials and reception. For the sake of this blog post though, let’s say that the Picketts had a generous though not unlimited budget. So who in the Steelers organization makes the guest list? Full disclosure: It’s very possible that the wedding guest list was posted online, but I haven’t seen it and don’t plan on searching for it. This post is all about speculation.

A starting NFL quarterback is generally considered the leader of the team. As a team leader, Pickett may have wanted to include as many members of the team at the wedding as possible. I think it would have made perfect sense to invite the entire Steelers offensive line. You want them to be on your good side. However, did Pickett include offensive tackle Broderick Jones, the first round draft pick from the University of Georgia who just signed his rookie contract last week? Probably not since invitations likely went out before the April 2023 NFL draft. What about the coaching staff? I feel like it would be a big deal if Pickett didn't invite coach Mike Tomlin or offensive coordinator Matt Canada. 

What about the rest of the team? Maybe Pickett decided that he would only invite veteran offensive players. If that's the case, do you have to invite both sets of Watt and Heyward brothers? Seems like you would want to have Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt at your wedding, but if you invite them, you have to include Minkah Fitzpatrick, Tyson Alualu, etc. The numbers on this guest list are going to add up quickly.

So who would you include or who misses the cut?

Photo by John Bacolo - Gabelli Studio and shared in People Magazine. (The money from People Magazine to have access to these pictures could likely pay for several additional tables at the wedding!)

My Attempt to Make a Conference Call With Jack Del Rio Exciting

Since I purchased group tickets for last season’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Jacksonville Jaguars game in Jacksonville, the Jaguars consider me one of their best fans. Therefore, they invited me to join the head coach in a live conference call Tuesday evening. Although I didn’t know what to expect, I figured that I should prepare some questions. With the help of some of my Facebook friends, here are some suggested questions I had for Coach Del Rio (mostly inappropriate):

- Where do you think the Jaguars will move when they leave Jacksonville?
- Do you think the season hinges on the performance of Mark Brunell and Jimmy Smith? (Brunnell is a 39 year-old back-up for New Orleans; Smith retired several years ago)
- Besides Maurice Jones-Drew, what Jacksonville player should I have on my fantasy team?
- Why didn’t you draft Jacksonville’s favorite son, Tim Tebow?



When I got into the conference call, I quickly learned that this was a moderated call. If you pressed *3, you were put on a waiting list where someone would at some point take your question and pass it on to the coach. While I waited my turn, here are the questions asked of the coach and his answers (or at least how I wanted him to answer the questions):

Q: Do you see the team being able to stretch the field?
A: No. Our QB has trouble throwing the deep ball and we have really slow receivers that can’t get separation. Why do you think we give the ball to MJD so much?

Q: Do you have any interest in trading for Brady Quinn?
A: Yes. In fact, we like him so much, that we want to send Denver our first round draft pick in 2011 and 2012.

Q: Who would you have drafted if Tyson Alualu wasn’t available?
A: Oh, there were probably a dozen other players. We really reached for Alualu because our pass rush was terrible last year and we need more Hawaiians on our team. If you look at the past 10 Super Bowl Champions, nearly all of them had Samoans on their team. Hawaii is part of Samoa, right?

Q: Does DE Derrick Harvey need to improve?
A: No. He’s the greatest player ever, and will be in the Hall of Fame immediately after he retires. The NFL will waive the 5-year retirement rule to get him in the Hall of Fame ASAP. He’s fine.

After about 20 minutes of listening to the rather stale responses, the moderator came to me. I presented the moderator with two questions: What does the team need to do to supplant the Colts as the division’s best team? Will Coach Del Rio wear a suit on the sideline?



A few minutes later, they asked the coach the suit question.

A: I may. We’ll see.

Thanks Coach! Actually, the moderator kept this topic going by suggesting that the Monday night game against Tennessee would be a perfect opportunity to wear the suit. Del Rio did give a definitive statement by saying that he would not wear a suit for the September 12th 1:00 game since it would be too hot.

Once they switched topics, I hung up as I had enough.