The Kenny Pickett era in Pittsburgh did not end like anyone wanted or expected. The Steelers could not have expected that they would trade him to the Philadelphia Eagles after two years in the league. Otherwise, they would have never spent a first-round pick on him in the first place. So what happened?
Greg Cosell joined Ross Tucker Thursday on the Ross Tucker Podcast to talk about all the events of free agency thus far. The Pickett trade came up, and Cosell had some thoughts.
“For whatever reason, Kenny Pickett was an uncomfortable player in Pittsburgh,” Cosell said. “He had some moments, but he looked nothing like he did his senior year at Pitt…the traits he showed in college did not show up with any level of consistency in the NFL with Pittsburgh. He just looked uncomfortable.”
Cosell brings up a salient point, comparing Pickett’s final season at Pitt to how he looked in his first two seasons in the NFL. In 2021, Pickett lit the college football world on fire. He completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 4,319 yards at 8.7 yards per attempt while throwing 42 touchdowns to only seven interceptions. He was the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, and even finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting that season.
What we saw out of Pickett in 25 appearances with the Steelers was much more similar to his junior season in 2019. In that season, he completed 61.6 percent of his passes and threw only 13 touchdowns with nine interceptions. He still threw for over 3,000 yards but averaged 6.6 yards per attempt.
Cosell admitted that he had Kenny Pickett as his No. 1 quarterback in the 2022 draft, and based on the conversation he had with Tucker, his stellar performance in that final season was a big part of it. Cosell did dive deeper into some of the issues that Pickett displayed with the Steelers and a likely cause.
“His ball location was really problematic,” Cosell said. “And that was not the case at all in college. Very often, that speaks to just not being confident delivering the football…it was not a quarterback-friendly offense. It didn’t give the quarterback defined, relatively easy throws by NFL standards.”
I cannot think of anyone who has stepped up and defended former offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s offensive scheme. Most will acknowledge that he was not the sole problem in Pittsburgh. Yet there aren’t many who will say that his offense was good; it was everyone else’s fault.
So there is certainly an element of blame that rests on the Steelers’ shoulders in this situation. Regardless of who the quarterback is, you want to surround them with the best coaching and players you possibly can. And for the first year and a half of Pickett’s career, the Steelers failed to do so at the offensive coordinator position.
However, if you look at Pickett’s overall college career, the 2021 season was an incredible outlier. Prior to 2021, the most touchdowns Pickett ever threw for in a season was 13 in both 2019 and 2020. His previous career-high completion percentage was 61.6 percent in that 2019 season.
So perhaps that 2021 season was lightning in a bottle for Kenny Pickett. Whatever worked that year has not translated to the NFL so far. Maybe a year spent backing up Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia will do some good for Pickett’s confidence. It won’t be in the same stadium where he played his college career and the first two seasons in the NFL, though.
You can watch the entire free agency discussion below:
