Late in his rookie season, details emerged about Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and his relentless pursuit of perfection through film study and preparation.
Pickett took over the starting quarterback role in Week 5 of the 2022 season on the road against the Buffalo Bills and eventually settled in the role and took off in the second half of the season. That improvement from the first portion of his rookie season to the second half — a stretch in which the Steelers went 7-2 to get back into the playoff picture — was largely a credit to Pittsburgh getting healthy and finding an identity offensively.
It helped that Pickett stopped turning the ball over, too, and the NFL game slowed down for him overall, thanks to his film study. Pickett had his own “little cocoon” in the team facility on the South Side where he was able to get in extra film study, ensuring he was as prepared as possible to hit the field every week with as much information as possible at his disposal.
That extra film study and preparation routine each week wasn’t something that Pickett always had prior to the NFL. In fact, it’s something that started late in his time at the University of Pittsburgh, thanks to two legendary quarterbacks in the sport — Peyton and Eli Manning — and his attendance at the famed Manning Passing Academy, starting in 2019.
“That’s really where it all started, for me,” Pickett said during an appearance on the Green Light Podcast with former NFL defensive end Chris Long, regarding his film study and preparation. “Every day [at the Manning Passing Academy] we had like an hour-long chalk-talk with Peyton and Eli, and you could pick their brains on how they prepared, and I got my film study and preparation from the Manning Camp.
“That’s really where I started being real regimented with the film and how I study and what I do on each day. Then I got with Coach Whip [Mark Whipple] and refined it into what I really liked and wanted to do.”
Finding what worked for him from a film study and preparation aspect helped Pickett go from a decent starting quarterback at Pitt entering the 2019 season into a first-round draft pick by the Steelers in 2022, coming off of a Heisman Trophy-finalist season in which he set a number of records with the Panthers, leading them to an ACC Championship in the process.
Now, in the NFL, that regimented week has become even more refined. Even on off days as a rookie, Pickett still went into the facility for some extra preparation before the game plan was unveiled on Wednesdays throughout the season. Pickett was given a bigger hand in creating the game plan. After the season, he revealed Mike Tomlin included him in some of the coaches’ meetings, getting him directly involved with the team’s plan of attack and allowing Pickett to get an early jump on the game plan instead of seeing it mid-week.
All quarterbacks have the physical traits to perform on the field in the NFL, but not all have the mental capabilities to do so. Film study, processing and overall understanding of what defenses are trying to do sets the good and great ones apart from the rest. Pickett has it where it counts right now: between the ears.
All thanks to the Manning Passing Academy setting him on the right path.
