General manager Omar Khan stood before a scrum of Pittsburgh Steelers reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine and said exactly what he was supposed to about Kenny Pickett.

“I have full faith in Kenny,” he told Steelers media on Thursday. “He’s shown us some good things, and obviously, there were some issues with the offense.

“I’m excited about the impact that Arthur Smith’s gonna have on him. Arthur is very optimistic about Kenny. They’ve communicated. We’ll have some strong competition there and we’ll see where it goes.”

The Combine isn’t really the place to state otherwise about the Steelers presumed starter. They’re an organization that always keeps things close to the vest as Khan did.

But following up having “full faith” in Pickett with “strong competition” seems to contradict itself.

There’s no question Pittsburgh will have four quarterbacks going into offseason training, but it’s unclear whether QB1 status is Pickett’s to lose or if there will even be a true competition.

Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire