The Pittsburgh Steelers have made their first selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, and it's Quarterback Kenny Pickett from Pitt.
Scouting report from NFL.com
Overview
Pickett has five years of game experience and four years of starting experience for Pitt. He's a fairly toolsy pocket passer with good mobility. He operated in a passing scheme featuring vertical concepts that created big-play opportunities but left food on the plate when he failed to play chess against the back-end of the coverage. Pickett works with average anticipation but drives the ball with good velocity, which should help him shine in pre-draft passing drills. Pickett's touch and placement need work, but his accuracy stats were damaged by an inordinate amount of drops throughout his career. The top indicator for future success or failure will likely rest in a team's ability to build Pickett's trust, poise and discipline from the pocket. He can make all the throws, but he'll only be able to execute against disguised fronts and NFL pressure if he's willing to hang in and win with his eyes first. He carries a boom/bust label, but the 2021 tape and productivity showed off his potential to become a good starter in time.
Back during the Senior Bowl Pickett had this to say about possibly heading to the Steelers
“The possibility of getting drafted there would be unbelievable,” he proclaimed. “Pittsburgh is really my second home, so that would kind of be a dream. It started when I got recruited to Pitt and maybe at the next level. We’ll see what happens.”
“We see how they go about their business, how they work, go through their walkthroughs, how professional they are.” Pickett continued by saying, “As a young kid coming into Pitt, freshmen and sophomores can see how things are supposed to be done on their practice field.”
“I’m obviously very familiar with Coach Canada as well. He recruited me to Pitt. So I have a great relationship with them [Mike Tomlin and Canada].” Pickett went on to say, “Obviously Ben’s a Hall of Famer. He had an unbelievable career. He was coached by Coach Whipple, which is pretty cool to be coached by Coach Whip who had Ben and then I got to learn from him. A lot of the things he taught Ben, he was teaching me in these past three seasons at Pitt.”
Stay Tuned - More to come
