If you had lots of questions about Kenny Pickett heading into his second NFL season, I bet you have a lot fewer at the moment. Look, we all know that this was just the preseason. But in terms of what you could ask for from exhibition action, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback went above and beyond (and maybe even then some).
Pickett kicked things off with a spectacular showing in Week 1 of the preseason against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- completing 6 of 7 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown, courtesy of ESPN stats. Somehow, it was only uphill from here.
Against the starting Buffalo Bills defense in Week 2 of the preseason, Pickett played just two series. The first concluded with a 62-yard touchdown run from Jaylen Warren, but on the second, Pickett scored a touchdown on just one play on a 25-yard dart to Pat Freiermuth over the middle of the field. He finished this contest going 3 of 4 for 43 yards and a touchdown.
In the preseason finale against the Buccaneers, Pickett may have had his best performance of the three. On the first drive alone, he found Diontae Johnson for a 35-yard reception down the left sideline before going to George Pickens down the right sideline for a gain of 33. The Steelers QB finished this contest completing 4 of 4 passes for an outstanding 86 yards (21.5 yards per attempt.
Kenny Pickett has the perfect preseason for the Steelers
In his efforts this summer, Kenny Pickett has managed to do the unimaginable: He went all three games with a perfect passer rating. Here's a look at his stat line from exhibition action in August.
Kenny Pickett's 2023 preseason:
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) August 25, 2023
13 of 15
199 passing yards
2 TD
0 INT
13.2 yards per attempt 👀
86.6% completion
158.3 passer rating 🔥
He played 5 drives. He scored 5 touchdowns. He earned a perfect passer rating. Could ask for much more than what we saw. #Steelers
To help get him to a perfect passer rating in the preseason, Pickett completed 13 of 15 balls for an astonishing 13.2 yards per pass attempt. Remarkably, the young quarterback scored a touchdown on 5 of 5 possessions in which he led the first-team offense.
It's hard to ask for much more than we saw from Pickett in the preseason. Now the question becomes: Can he carry his dominant run into the regular season?
The simple answer is no... at least, not what we have seen so far. It's highly unreasonable to expect Pickett to have a flawless passer rating or over 10 yards per pass attempt. These would be historic numbers. It's important to put this into context. Yes, Pickett was spectacular during the preseason, but much of his work came against backups, and it's important to note that 15 total passes are less than one full game of sample size when you put it all together.
Regardless, I won't diminish what Kenny Pickett has done in just his second NFL preseason. The Pittsburgh Steelers did the unthinkable and pulled off one of the single best performances we have ever seen from a quarterback of this franchise during August. Fans have plenty of reason to be excited about what he could be in the future.