Players turning analysts can be a tricky thing, but there are some who have done it rather well, and seemingly increasingly so. Quarterbacks tend to do well when they gravitate toward analyzing the position they played, something Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is doing now with QB Confidential.
In his latest episode, he took a look at second-year Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett, sharing his observations from the team’s second game last season against the Baltimore Ravens, and he had some interesting things to say.
I should note that he does these analyses half by half and as of the time of this writing, he had only posted the first half, with second likely to follow tomorrow or the next day. But he shared his overall conclusions right off the bat.
“I thought Kenny Pickett showed that he belongs as a starting quarterback in the National Football League and got better and better and better throughout the season”, Warner said. He added at the end of the video, “Bottom line is when you’re working through some of those growing pains, do you elevate your game at the big moments, can you make some big-time plays at key times in big division rival games like this?”, his answer for Pickett being yes.
It is very much worth watching the 10-minute video above because he breaks down video of several plays to share his thoughts, both on the pros and cons of what Pickett does well and where he can grow. Along the way, he also makes several references to the plays putting him in negative positions, an indirect slight against Matt Canada’s offense.
I’m not going to quote every nice thing he said about Pickett, but a few things stood out. “This is where he really excelled last year was his ability to create and ad-lib”, he said at one point. “Where I want to see him get better in 2023 is his ability to play on-schedule, on-time”. He also highlighted one play in the red zone where he wanted to see Pickett stick with his primary target.
“I’d like to see him reset. We’ve got leverage to the corner. Reset and just let it go. Let it go. Trust it. Trust it”, he said of a play on which he had George Pickens breaking to the back pylon out of a bunch formation. “Be ready. You’re not there. Reset. You see it. We’ve got leverage. Throw it to the back pylon, that’s going to be your best opportunity instead of trying to work all the way to the backside”.
Another area in which he wants to see Pickett improve is his decision-making under pressure, particularly about where to go with the ball and figuring out the optimal target, even if another option might work. You want to look for your one-on-one matchup, he said.
Pickett has spent the offseason poring over the tape of every one of his dropbacks from his rookie year, surely, seeing it with multiple different sets of eyes alongside him, whether Canada, quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan, or his own personal quarterback coach. But it might not hurt him to see it through Kurt Warner’s eyes, as well.
