The Pittsburgh Steelers had every quarterback available when it came time to make a selection
While I am somewhat surprised that the Steelers went with Pickett over Liberty prospect Malik Willis, I am not sure that anyone really should be. There were multiple teams reportedly showing interest in Pickett that were slotted ahead of Pittsburgh in this draft.
The bigger surprise seems to be that Pickett actually fell to the Steelers. With Pickett having strong ties to the city, seeming to be a perfect fit in Matt Canada’s system, and coming into the NFL with a ton of college experience it appears to be a match made in heaven. So here are 5 things fans need to know about Kenny Pickett.
He comes from a family of athletes and showed athletic ability early
Kenny Pickett comes from a family of great athletes. His father Ken Pickett was an All-American linebacker at Shippensburg University here in Pennsylvania. His mother Kasey Pickett played soccer at Division II Kutztown University.
Kenny’s sister Alex Pickett had a successful collegiate career playing soccer at East Stroudsburg University. She now coaches at Seton Hill which is maybe a 20-minute drive from St. Vincent, where the Steelers hold their training camp.
Not only does Pickett come from a family of successful college athletes Pickett played multiple sports in High School. He was a 3-sport athlete between football, baseball, and basketball. We’ll go more into the story of why Pickett dropped his other sports later.
Pickett came from a family that knows what it takes to be a successful athlete and strong athletic bloodlines have always been a major selling point to the Steelers.
Kenny Pickett’s work ethic and attention to detail helped him flash greatness early
If you read up on what Pitt’s coaches would say about Pickett the number one thing they always come back to is an incredible work ethic and commitment to being better. That kind of commitment led to Pickett dropping baseball in his junior year of high school.
Pickett would go on to enroll at Pitt University early in January of 2017. Not even a year later Pickett would go on to lead the Panthers to a major upset as an unranked program over the #2 program in the nation at the time Miami.
Pickett showed an incredible amount of poise in his first year as a college athlete. However, Pickett would cool off throughout the next few seasons until a huge senior year which launched Pickett into the spotlight. Pickett got better every year in college demonstrating a strong and steady progression. 2021 was the year where everything finally showed.
Pickett broke multiple records in college
Pickett managed to break Dan Marino’s records at Pitt for all-time passing yards and passing touchdowns. While he had some extra time, no one can take these records for granted.
That is doubly true considering that the previous record-holder was one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, possibly the best quarterback to never win a super bowl, and is already in the hall of fame.
The Steelers had the opportunity to draft Dan Marino years ago. Pittsburgh passing on the hometown hero is one of the Steelers’ biggest regrets. I doubt the Steelers would want to possibly repeat that mistake now.
Pickett also broke Pitt’s single-season records for passing yards and total yards in a season. People can talk all they want about the game-changing, and football becoming more of a passing game. However, Pickett did it first and his records will probably remain for quite some time.
You couldn’t write a better story than this
I believe that one of the biggest reasons that Pickett is in Pittsburgh is because of offensive coordinator Matt Canada. After all, the offensive coordinator for the Pitt Panthers in 2016 when Pickett committed was in fact Matt Canada.
While Canada never really got to work with him once Pickett made the move to college, due to accepting a job at LSU, the two had developed a relationship years ago. Canada has wanted Pickett in his system for a long time and now he has him.
Pickett was sold on the ideas that Canada was employing at Pitt. Pickett’s skill set fits what Canada wants in this offense. I think Pickett will fit into these schemes perfectly and the way that everything is coming full circle for Pickett seems like a script from Hollywood.
Pickett gets to stay in the town where he made his name, playing under a coach that helped recruit him to that town in the first place, and he’s doing it for the team that passed on the very record holder in 1983 whose records he broke in 2021 at the college they both played for.
Pickett’s hand is small but built to throw the football
If after all of this you are still stuck on Pickett having the smallest hands of any quarterback in the league then this last tidbit will help ease your thoughts. Pickett’s thumb is double-jointed. If you don’t believe me that’s fine. You can scroll back to the picture at the top of this very page and look at the thumb on his throwing hand.
While hand size seems to be an important thing for NFL scouts, Pickett’s double-jointed thumb may actually give him an advantage when it comes to holding and throwing the football.
However, I doubt that is the reason he is a Steeler. Pickett has every off-the-field intangible the Steelers look for in their draft picks. Between his leadership, decision making, professionalism, and insane work ethic there is a lot that makes you want to root for the Steelers’ latest quarterback.
His production in college including multiple game-winning drives upsets over national powerhouses, broken records, and bringing Pitt their first ACC championship doesn’t hurt either.