Kenny Pickett went from being a quarterback projected to be a late day three selection in the 2021 NFL Draft to being the first quarterback chosen in the 2022 NFL Draft when the Steelers picked him with the 20th overall selection of the class Thursday night. Several factors for Pickett stood out in his 2021 campaign with Pitt on his way to leading the Panthers to their first-ever ACC Championship, and that's what made the difference for Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin to bring Pickett back to Pittsburgh.
What Pickett lacked in throwing power and raw speed, he exuded in his throwing accuracy, leadership and his vision on the field when reading defenses. Those were the traits that made him the best college quarterback in 2021, and what the Steelers hope to employ in Matt Canada's offense.
Although Pickett didn't run an insane 40-yard dash time at 4.73 seconds, almost everything else, outside of his hand size, measured up to what you want in a quarterback's measurements.
Kenny Pickett is a QB prospect in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.55 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 40 out of 866 QB from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/Ff3Wwj6fCa #RAS pic.twitter.com/63uYjuVJIk
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 26, 2022
Throughout the Panthers' season, Pickett would dissect defenses and see through most of their disguised coverages while showing his mobility with combined accuracy.
This was arguably Pickett's best throw of the season. You can see Pickett roll to his right and look for Jordan Addison on a deep corner pattern. When Pickett threw his pass, Addison had tight coverage on his back to force Pickett's pass to be accurate. The throw was on the money, and it was a big play in one of the season's biggest wins:
Canada's offense should maximize Pickett's familiarity with making big throws on the run.
Only 7 of Pickett's 497 passes were intercepted in 2021, while 334 were completed, 42 of them going for touchdowns. Pickett was sharp in 2021 about putting the ball in the right places for his receivers to have the best chance to make the catch. Pickett's accuracy was compounded with, maybe, the best ability to read defenses of this quarterback class.
Here, Pickett faced Clemson showing a two-deep safety look at the beginning of the play. But when the ball is snapped, Clemson switches to a single-high safety look, indicated cover three and changing the pockets Pickett must attack. Pickett doesn't panic and he hit Taysir Mack's comeback pattern is open on the sideline:
Also, note how accurately that ball had to be thrown for the intermediate defender to get there, you can see the frustration when he wasn't able to get to the pass.
More often than not, Pickett saw what opponents' were doing, studied enough to know the best chance to find a weak spot, and found it. He also knew how to switch on a sense of urgency and use his legs when necessary. We all remember the fake-slide moment in the ACC Championship, but Pickett also includes a natural toughness when he runs to make plays.
Watch this scramble during a critical point of Pitt's win over Clemson, when it was 3rd and 7 late in the fourth quarter. Clemson did a good job taking away each of Pickett's targets downfield, but Pickett then took off for the sideline marker for the first down, beating both a linebacker and a safety to the line to gain, despite both defenders having the proper angle of attack:
It's also important to note that Pickett had just come back in from injury minutes before that play.
Pickett brings charisma and leadership to a team, and moments like that help seal it. Earlier in the season, Pickett called a players-only meeting after a loss to Western Michigan to challenge the team to step up. In the months that followed, Pitt's players mentioned that meeting in almost every pregame availability every week, saying how it changed the tone of the season.
Pickett's biggest drawback as a prospect has been his lack of elite arm strength. Plenty deep passes were underthrown, but made up for by Addison in his stellar season. Here's an example when Pickett launched a bomb to a wide open Addison, but the ball hung in the air and Addison had to slow up to come back and get it:
That won't fly much in the NFL, where defensive backs would prey on such passes. Pickett benefited from receivers being college-open, but he'll have to be prepared for that to shift at the next level.
If he's not, opponents will start picking off his passes and keying in on his reads. While being the best at reading defenses, Pickett's lack of elite arm strength and mobility mean his reads have to consistently be sharp to be effective. There were times those slips happened, like this interception when Pickett didn't look off the back safety and committed too hard to his throw:
Pickett isn't the perfect quarterback prospect, but his combination of accuracy, field vision, leadership and toughness make him the most NFL-ready of quarterbacks in this class.
Whether those assets will be enough to beat Mitch Trubisky for playing time in training camp is a question too far down the line. But for now, Pickett is in a good position to find ways his game integrates into the NFL and sit behind Trubisky if necessary. If his game translates well, his on-field decision-making skills could be a game-changing factor for Canada's offense.
