Even after an offseason filled with some considerable hype and attention paid to the signal caller in the Steel City, Pittsburgh Steelers second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett finds himself outside of the top 25 in the quarterback rankings entering the 2023 season from The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz.
Pickett, who looks to be on the cusp of a significant Year Two leap at the position, is No. 26 in Ruiz’s rankings, behind names like Chicago’s Justin Fields, Green Bay’s Jordan Love and even New England’s Mac Jones, grading out at a 75.2 overall from The Ringer’s metrics.
“Pickett believes in himself. That is clear from his film. He doesn’t hesitate to go into play-making mode. He’s a confident passer on the move, whether he’s going to his left or right. And he has just enough arm strength and athleticism to mostly make his frenzied style work,” Ruiz writes of Pickett for The Ringer’s rankings. “It’s Pickett’s work in the pocket that could use some sharpening. He’s often fidgety, though he did show a calmer side this preseason. If he can just chill out a bit, the Steelers might have something in the Pitt product. He’s got passable accuracy and some craftiness: He does a good job of using feints to freeze defenders and get his receivers open. You rarely see young players using old-man tactics like that.”
Pickett certainly believes in himself, and it’s warranted. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, but he trusts in his anticipation and accuracy to make big-time throws down the field. He showed that quite a bit in the preseason, which was a tremendous performance from the second-year quarterback overall.
He’s also able to create plays with his legs, which is a huge key for him in his game, especially when the pocket breaks down. The criticism of Pickett in the pocket is fair though. It’s something he put a ton of attention on in the offseason, working hard to improve in that area of his game.
Steelers Depot’s own Tyler Wise did a great job breaking down the evolution of Pickett in the pocket from Year One to Year Two.
Ruiz praising Pickett for his old-man tactics as a quarterback is quite interesting though. He’s a guy that gets by with his smarts, and it shows time and time again on tape. Old-man tactics are quite fun when they work. Pickett’s work quite a bit.
Outside of his ranking at No. 26, Pickett’s biggest strength in Ruiz’s eyes is his creativity, while his biggest weakness is his pocket presence. Ironically, Ruiz labels Pickett as a guy who “has that dawg in him” and has “deceptive eyes,” and raises the hypothetical question that what if Pickett is Josh Allen with “just okay tools?”
That’s quite a question to raise regarding Pickett, an interesting one in that sense.
But even after a strong training camp and preseason and with plenty of hype surrounding Pickett entering Year Two, Ruiz tried to pour cold water on the quarterback with his ranking at No. 26. We’ll see if Pickett climbs the rankings in the weeks moving forward once the play on the field counts.
