Pittsburgh Steelers select Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett in 2022 NFL Draft

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett, who emerged throughout the 2021 season, with the No. 20 overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. After a successful college career through four seasons, he returned using the free year of eligibility given during the COVID-19 pandemic and shined.

In five seasons with the Panthers before entering the NFL Draft, Kenny Pickett threw for 12,303 yards with 81 touchdowns and 32 interceptions while completing 62.4 percent of his passes. Although not considered a major running threat, he also added 809 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.

A former three-star recruit in the class of 2017, he was the No. 811 overall player in the nation per the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. The Oakhurst, New Jersey native also ranked as the No. 48 quarterback and No. 19 player in his home state after playing at Ocean Township High School.

NFL draft analysts on Kenny Pickett

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein broke down what Kenny Pickett can bring to the NFL in his recent scout of the quarterback’s draft profile. The analyst compared the Pittsburgh quarterback to prime Andy Dalton, who led the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs but could not win in the postseason.

The NFL.com scout pointed out that while he is not the perfect prospect, his ability to play immediately in a weak quarterback class make him a valuable asset for teams in need of a franchise leader now.

“Pickett has five years of game experience and four years of starting experience for Pitt,” wrote Zierlein. “He’s a fairly toolsy pocket passer with good mobility. He operated in a passing scheme featuring vertical concepts that created big-play opportunities but left food on the plate when he failed to play chess against the back-end of the coverage.”