Prospect Bio

Hailing from Oakhurst, New Jersey, Kenny Pickett starred at quarterback for Ocean Township. In his junior year, Pickett led Ocean Township to a 9-2 record and a semifinal appearance in the Central, Group 3 playoffs. For his high school career, he finished with 4,670 passing yards, 43 passing touchdowns, 873 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns. He was ranked the 13th highest prospect in New Jersey for the class of 2017 and the 10th for pro-style quarterbacks. Pickett received offers from other Power Five schools in Iowa and North Carolina, but elected to stay closer to home and play for Pittsburgh.

Pickett’s first four years failed to garner much attention; he completed just 60.4 percent of his attempts for 7,984 yards (6.8 Y/A) for 39 touchdowns (3.3 percent touchdown rate) and 22 interceptions (1.9 percent interception rate). Pickett’s extended Covid season put him on the map, finishing in the top-10 nationally in passing yards (6th) and passing touchdowns (4th). He led Pittsburgh to their first ACC Championship, an 11-2 record, and a trip to the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Pickett’s play earned him a trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony where he finished third. Pickett leaves Pittsburgh as their most decorated passer, with school records in attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns.

College Stats

Kenny Pickett College Stats Courtesy of sports-reference.com

Positives

+ Accurate; places the ball in favorable positions for his receivers

+ Good athlete

+ Good anticipation

+ Hangs in the pocket under pressure

+ Ability to keep plays alive

+ Consistent release

+ Confident

+ Good arm strength

+ Mobile

+ Strong mechanics

+ 1,674 career pass attempts

Negatives

– Enters league as 24-year old rookie

– 60.9 college QBR (14th-percentile, PlayerProfiler)

– 7.3 college YPA (21st-percentile, PlayerProfiler)

– 21.3 breakout age (35th-percentile, PlayerProfiler)

Highlight Reel

Best Comparable Player: Joe Burrow

NFL Draft Projection: 1st round

Bottom Line:

Kenny Pickett’s rise up draft boards is similar to Joe Burrow’s: neither were draft relevant entering their last year of college, and both played their way into the first round. Unlike Burrow’s Heisman and National Championship seasons, Pickett was not surrounded by NFL talent; Pickett has played with just three players who made NFL rosters or projected to this year (Jordan Addison). There is a concern as to why it took Pickett until his fifth season to reach this level. Even with this concern, Pickett’s phenomenal play his senior year should garner consideration for the first quarterback off the board. Barring any collapse between now and the end of April, expect Pickett to come off the board Thursday night.

Post Draft Analysis:

Kenny Pickett is staying in Pittsburgh. While it’s a fun storyline, Pickett is far from a lock to have a positive outcome. With that said, he lands in as ideal a situation as we could’ve asked for. Mitchell Trubisky doesn’t pose much of a threat as far as a quarterback competition and the talent around him will give Pickett the best chance to succeed whenever he gets his opportunity.

Resources: DLF, PlayerProfiler, PFN, PFF

Yards Per-Formance Prospect Grade