When the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up on Kenny Pickett after just two seasons, some fans wondered if the 2022 first-round pick should have been given a longer shot at the starting gig. The Pitt product led the Steelers to a record of 16-11 in his first two seasons, but was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2024 offseason.
Now the Carolina Panthers are the latest team learning what the Steelers already knew about Pickett—he's not an NFL quarterback.
The Panthers played in Canton for the Hall of Fame game. And despite going against backups, Pickett managed just 62 yards on 11 pass attempts (5.6 yards per attempt) while taking a sack. Then, in Week 1 of the preseason against the Buffalo Bills, Pickett earned a mere 92 passing yards on 22 drop-backs while throwing a touchdown, per ESPN stats.
So far, through two exhibition games, Pickett has dropped back to throw 34 times, but has recorded just 154 yards (4.5 yards per drop-back) while taking four sacks. The former first-round QB has passed for a dismal 5.1 yards per attempt—and this comes in two games of exhibition action against scrubs.
The Carolina Panthers are finding out that former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett is not an NFL-caliber quarterback
We knew very early in Pickett's career that he wasn't going to be a franchise quarterback. Since starting for the Steelers, Pickett strung together one underwhelming performance after another and never went above and beyond the game plan.
But not only does Pickett fall well short of franchise QB status, but we can make a case at this point that he simply doesn't belong on the NFL stage—not even as a backup.
Despite entering his fifth NFL season, Pickett is already 28 years old, and over the past three years, he has been with a grand total of five NFL teams (including the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cleveland Browns).
Pickett's past draft status as a first-round pick is probably keeping him in the league longer than he deserves. But it's hardly doing enough to keep him in one place. After a short stint with the Steelers, Pickett spent just a matter of months with the Eagles, Browns, and Raiders before signing with the Panthers as an unrestricted free agent.
Now it already looks like the Panthers just flushed $4 million guaranteed down the tube.
Though Pickett has ideal height for an NFL quarterback at 6'3'', his historically small 8 1/2'' hands no doubt contribute to his poor velocity on the football. However, his worst trait is that he gets the jitters in the pocket and can't respond to pressure effectively.
Pickett has had a dismal start to his fifth NFL season and doesn't even look like a player the Panthers can trust coming off the bench in the event of an injury to starter Bryce Young. They should have done a bit more research on Pickett before signing him to be the backup QB.
Next time a first-round pick is traded less than two full calendar years after being drafted, NFL teams should take notice. Unfortunately, the Panthers had to learn the hard way that Kenny Pickett is not a good quarterback.
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