Grading each selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 NFL Draft
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers had an impressive draft on paper. Here’s how I graded each selection in they made in the 2022 NFL Draft.
I know that not every fan was on board with Pittsburgh opting for Kenny Pickett with their first-round selection. Much of the fanbase was split on who the best quarterback was this year, and many wondered if we could have waited (considering no other QB was taken before the third round.
Still, the 2022 NFL Draft should have Steelers fans excited for the future of this team. Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert selected a player they believe can be the face of the franchise, and I applaud them for taking some highly-touted players instead of reaching for positions of need. Here are my initial grades of each Steelers draft choice this year:
QB Kenny Pickett: C+
This is a case where I will never be so glad to be so wrong. Like many other draft analysts, I wasn’t crazy about Kenny Pickett as a prospect. He was an older player with historically small hands and had just one year of respectable production dating all the way back to high school.
Additionally, Pickett doesn’t have the traits and upside that many teams like to bet on. Though he’s a good athlete who possesses the ability to extend the play (a must in today’s NFL), his arm is very average by NFL standards, and his throw power wavers at times.
Still, Pickett is a great leader who can scan the field and excels at throwing on the move. A rock-solid 2021 season showed that he might just have that ‘it’ factor that can’t be measured. I had Pickett as the 48th overall player on my draft board, so I hope I am wrong about my evaluation, but I would have rather gone with higher upside at the QB position.