Coming off of a terrific preseason in which he led the starting offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers on five drives, scoring five touchdowns, the buzz surrounding second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett is only growing louder.
It reached a crescendo Thursday morning, thanks to Good Morning Football co-host Peter Schrager.
Schrager, who has spoken glowingly about Pickett all offseason on through training camp and the preseason, tabbed Pickett as his No. 1 breakout player of the 2023 season, stating that he believes the Steelers’ signal caller is going to have the type of season where everyone in the NFL universe starts to seriously question how 19 teams passed on Pickett in the first round, allowing him to land with the Black and Gold.
“After a rough start to his career, Kenny Pickett settled down and won big game after big game down the stretch. …This offense around him has such youth…and they played in the preseason. We got a glimpse. All five drives in the preseason Kenny Pickett scored touchdowns. Kenny Pickett is going to have a breakout year,” Schrager said of Pickett while listing him as his top breakout player for 2023 on GMFB. “And when I say he’s gonna have a breakout year, am I saying he’s gonna be an All-Pro? It’s not entirely out of the question.
“But I’m saying he’s going to be a guy that we’re talking about as a young quarterback in those same conversations with Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields … I think this young man is the QB1 for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is going to give the Bengals, Ravens and the Cleveland Browns hell this season.”
Pickett didn’t exactly hit the ground running in the NFL as a rookie, throwing eight interceptions in his first four games, including three in his first two quarters of football in his debut in Week Four against the New York Jets.
After that though, Pickett settled in, especially after the Week Nine bye week last season. The former Pitt star really came into his own, played with great confidence and was masterful late in games, leading the Steelers to four come-from-behind wins and orchestrated three game-winning drives.
Now, entering Year Two as the starter, things are really looking up for Pickett. The hype train is rolling right along at a high rate of speed, and to Pickett’s credit so far this offseason through training camp and the preseason, his play has backed up that hype.
In training camp, Pickett earned a grade of ‘A-‘ from Steelers Depot’s own Alex Kozora, with Kozora calling it a good three weeks of work at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, writing of Pickett: “He entered camp with the Steelers being his team, not someone else’s. And he acted accordingly. He was confident, poised, and looked comfortable out there.”
The confidence and comfort have been on display in the preseason, too. He’s pushing the football down the field more, attacking the middle of the field, and showed off his accuracy on seemingly every throw. While it was just 28 snaps offensively and just 15 passing attempts, Pickett looked exceptionally sharp in the preseason.
That performance has the hype building entering Year Two.
It helps that he sees the field so well, which is something that’s often a struggle for young quarterbacks.
Pickett is very quick at processing, reads defenses very well pre-snap and knows where to go with the football quickly. He has high-level accuracy, too, which continues to show up on a number of throws, and the timing and anticipation are quite something to see with the second-year quarterback.
While it was just preseason action, it was very encouraging and capped off an offseason in which Pickett did everything right and generated a ton of positive attention. It sure feels like the Steelers have a guy under center again. Let’s see if he can live up to expectations in Year Two.
