Coming off of his first season in the NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett stated that his offseason goal — aside from getting better as a quarterback — was to add weight to help him withstand the rigors of the NFL game.
Mission accomplished, at least according to his personal quarterbacks coach Tony Racioppi.
Appearing on the 93.7 The Fan Morning Show Thursday with hosts Colin Dunlap, Chris Mack, and Dorin Dickerson, Racioppi stated that Pickett added about 13 pounds this offseason, jumping up from the 213 pounds he finished his rookie season at up to the 226 he’s currently at.
“I’d say he’s like 226, right about now. Finished the year about 213, so about 13 pounds. He looks great; it’s not like he ate some cheeseburgers and sat on his butt,” Racioppi said on the Fan Morning Show, according to audio via 93.7 The Fan. “He put some size on, he got strong. The University of Pitt strength staff is second to none. He met with them after the season, got a program, came down here to Florida…and got after it.
“He’s one of those dudes that’s like, ‘Here are my goals, and I’m working and not stopping until I hit them.’ He said he wanted to be 225-226, and he’s 226 right now. He looks great. It’s about finding the balance to put on size and be strong to stay healthy throughout the season, but at same time to not get too big and lose some of that athleticism, which is such a huge part of his game.”
As Racioppi stated, Pickett was down to around 213 at the end of the season, in large part due to the inability to really stick in the weight room as the season progressed.
Adding weight was a clear offseason goal for Pickett. Based on his appearance after arriving to the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side Monday for the start of Phase One of the offseason for the Steelers, he certainly has added weight and looks good.
Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show in mid-January, Pickett detailed why he needed to add weight.
“I think the Combine training, man, I got a little too lean, I’d say. I was a little under 220,” Pickett told the show. “I want to get a little bit bigger for this this season. So you’re training for the 40, the 5-10-5, you’re just not training to be a football player. You’re kind of doing the drills and I wanted to perform well in those. So then I was playing catch up after that trying to gain some weight.
“I want to gain a little bit more weight and have a little bit more muscle mass on me heading into this season after experiencing a lot of these hits and you know, the game just played a little bit faster here.”
Pickett officially weighed in at the 2022 NFL Combine at 6033, 219 pounds. It’s not known his exact playing weight throughout the year but it sounds like it was a similar number, something in the 215-219 type range. A year of getting knocked around in the NFL will tell a lot of quarterbacks to get bigger and stronger.
Now, with a full offseason in front of him and some added weight, we’ll see how Pickett holds up in his second season. Of course, the rookie suffered two concussions last season, which is concerning. Added weight doesn’t guard against that, but physically he should be fine handling the workload at the quarterback position moving forward.
