Late last month, Josh Norris shared a clip from the Carolina Panthers’ behind-the-scenes view of new head coach Frank Reich building his roster during the offseason, trading up for the #1 overall pick to select Alabama QB Bryce Young. At one point, Reich walked and stood in front of the rest of the room and outlined the “five traits of greatness” that he observed from watching Peyton Manning.
The five are:
1. Toughness
2. Footwork/Finish
3. Accuracy
4. Playmaking/Clutch
5. X-Factor
Ultimately, that footage applies to the Panthers and their selection of Young. But today, we’ll turn it to the Steelers’ young and franchise hopeful, Kenny Pickett. How well does he check those five boxes?
1. Toughness
That’s not a question with Pickett. He’s already shown to have a strong chin and willingness to take a shot. That was evident from his very first NFL game. As we showed in our hour-long Pickett breakdown, he took this shot to make a play against New York Jets DT Quinnen Williams to fire complete to TE Pat Freiermuth. It put Pittsburgh on the goal line, which Pickett finished off with a QB sneak for a score.
Here’s that play and a handful of others of Pickett making throws while standing tall in the face of pressure.
2. Footwork/Finish
If you watch the video, you’ll largely see clips of Young running and scrambling around. That probably isn’t what Reich meant by “footwork.” Especially as it relates to studying Peyton Manning, who wasn’t fleet of foot, he’s talking about plays from within the pocket.
As we noted with our breakdown, it’s an area Pickett has to work on. But there was improvement later in the year. Even in his first start, one of my favorite plays of his rookie campaign was feeling the rush off his blindside from future Hall of Famer Von Miller, hitching up, and completing to Zach Gentry on third down to move the sticks. It was one glimmer of hope in a blowout loss but these are the things I like to see.
Pickett felt the rush better throughout the season, keeping his eyes downfield and moving to throw, not take off and run.
3. Accuracy
While Pickett’s underneath accuracy needs work, he showed it downfield. Two of his most accurate throws of the season came down the seam, hitting Freiermuth against Cover 2 versus the Miami Dolphins and an absolute dime to Steven Sims on his game-winning drive against Baltimore. These are high-level strikes.
4. Playmaking
Reich defined playmaking as coming up big in the clutch. “When it really matters the most, somebody needs to make a stinkin’ play.”
Pickett did that twice in his final three games of 2022. He threw game-winning touchdowns to WR George Pickens to beat the Las Vegas Raiders and again the following week to RB Najee Harris to knock off the Baltimore Ravens. Here’s a look at both of them.
5. X-Factor
Finally, X-Factor, which Reich defined as the quarterback becoming a “force multiplier” who makes everyone around him better. I don’t know if Pickett is quite at that level yet, not at the NFL, in part due to a limited resume and the nature of the Steelers’ conservative offense last season.
In college, Pickett certainly made everyone better, leading Pitt to its first 11-win season since Dan Marino, but the jury may still be out there. If he can take a leap, he’ll become that force multiplier.
Still, there were moments of flashes. His throw to Sims was the one you remember from the Ravens game (that and his touchdown to Harris) but this scramble drill moment to deliver to Freiermuth was one of those high-level plays to make something out of nothing. I view those X-Factor moments as the combination of a quarterback’s entire skill set. Here, you see Pickett sense the rush, get out of trouble, get his feet/shoulders aligned, eyes downfield, and make an accurate throw that doesn’t put his target in harm’s way.
Of course, Pickett hasn’t even started a full season in his career and his story isn’t close to being written. We’re still in evaluating, not concluding mode, and what Pickett does in 2023 will carry more weight in determining the type of quarterback he’ll become. But Reich’s list is a solid group of five bullet points to keep in mind. Most great QBs have had all five. And most of the position’s biggest busts have fallen short in those areas.
