ESPN insider shares details of Dwayne Haskins relationship with Kenny Pickett

As former Pittsburgh star Kenny Pickett went through the NFL Draft pre-draft process, he developed a relationship with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins. After Haskins’ sudden passing on Saturday, an ESPN insider shared details on the relationship between the two.

ESPN Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor joined SportsCenter and spoke about the bond between the two. In fact, Haskins came to check out Pitt’s Pro Day as Pickett, a likely first-round pick, showcased his skills for NFL scouts. It wasn’t a surprise, though, considering how involved Haskins was in Pittsburgh during his first year with the Steelers in 2021.

“I saw [Haskins] just a couple weeks ago at Pitt’s Pro Day,” Pryor said. “He stopped in, he had been working out with Kenny Pickett, and he stopped in just to see how things were going. This is a guy who really ingratiated himself within the Steelers community from the second he got here.”

Pryor also shared a conversation she had with Steelers quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan, who worked closely with Haskins since he was the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart. She said it not only spoke to who Haskins was as a person, but how he wanted to be as a player, as well.

“He said, ‘Dwayne Haskins is a guy that’s always in my hip pocket. He’s paying attention to everything that I do and trying to learn as much as he can and just soak it all in from his spot as the No. 3 quarterback,'” Pryor recalled. “He was a good teammate to so many people on this team, he’s someone that was out in this community doing some of the the weekly community events the Steelers put on.

“This is a guy that you could see really wanted to get everything back on track. He came in here, he worked hard, he kept his head down and he just wanted a fresh start. And it felt like he was really on his way to doing that, and you can see that from Mike Tomlin’s statement and from the reaction of teammates, who are heartbroken.”

Haskins, 24, burst onto the scene at Ohio State from 2016-18 and is widely considered a franchise-altering player. He passed away Saturday morning after he was hit by a car in South Florida, where he was training with Steelers teammates for the upcoming season, Pryor and ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed. Many of his former Buckeyes teammates and fellow NFL players took to social media to share their reactions to the stunning news.