The Pittsburgh Steelers did not go with the quarterback that most fans were thinking they liked. Now Kenny Pickett doesn’t even have to leave the city.
Wow. I was caught off guard a bit by that. I knew that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to select a quarterback with their first selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, but I didn’t think it would be Kenny Pickett.
Throughout the entire pre-draft process, Malik Willis was the name associated with Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert first met with the Liberty quarterback at the Senior Bowl where he had a very impressive week. From there, Pittsburgh’s brass continued meeting with Willis and the athletic quarterback impressed with jaw-dropping throws at both the NFL Combine and his Pro Day.
When the Steelers were on the clock with the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, fans and analysts on Twitter automatically assumed the pick was going to be Willis, as it was believed that he was Pittsburgh’s favorite target all along. Apparently, he was not.
There were certainly mixed reactions when Roger Goodell announced that Kenny Pickett was the selection for the Steelers. I wasn’t particularly fond of any quarterback in this class… and that includes Pickett.
Did Steelers make the right move?
I’m really hoping this wasn’t a nostalgia pick. I know playing five years at Pitt and becoming the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers makes for a great story, but this would be an awful reason to take a quarterback in the first round. I doubt that it was.
If there’s one thing we can credit Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert for, it’s that they did more than enough research on the quarterbacks during the pre-draft process — meeting with each of the top five signal-callers on multiple occasions.
Though other quarterbacks in this class had some intriguing traits Pittsburgh could have gambled on, they ultimately settled with Pickett — a pro-ready passer with plus mobility and the ability to go through progressions.
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I’m not going to be too hard on the pick for now. Though I had Pickett as a second-round-graded player, I understand that sometimes you have to take quarterbacks higher than you would like. Pickett did have an excellent 2021 season that really put him on the first-round radar.
After three straight seasons of lackluster production at Pitt, Pickett put up 4,319 passing yards to go with 42 touchdowns and 7 interceptions last year, via Sports Reference. He also led the Panthers to an 11-3 season — the most successful they’ve had since Dan Marino was their quarterback all the way back in 1981.
I highly doubt that Pickett is the second coming of Marino, but he does have enough traits to work with. Pickett took a massive step forward during the 2021 season, and we obviously hope he continues to trend in this direction moving forward.
Joe Burrow made a similar leap in his final year at LSU a few years back. While I wouldn’t expect Pickett to be Burrow for the Steelers, perhaps he could be a discounted version of that player.
For Pittsburgh, I think Pickett will probably begin the 2022 season as a backup before the team turns to him later in the year (assuming they aren’t having much success with Mitch Trubisky). I know that Pickett turns 24 years old this summer, but being a bit older as a QB prospect is just a drop in the bucket compared to their NFL careers.
In the end, we might not all agree with Pittsburgh’s decision or the thought process, but it’s not every day the Steelers draft a new face of the franchise. I’m going to try to enjoy this the best I can.