Dan Orlovsky impressed by Kenny Pickett's connection with George Pickens

As the NFL preseason continues, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: Kenny Pickett‘s connection with receiver George Pickens is a sight to behold.

The two were good in concert a year ago, but they appear to be taking their game to the next level this preseason.

In the team’s first preseason game, Pickett played only one drive but managed to impressively cap it off by finding Pickens on a deep post in between three defenders for a 33-yard touchdown pass.

“I think I owe them a little bit of an apology,” ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said on a panel on NFL Live. “After watching preseason Week 1 and seeing the connection and seeing all that’s going on in training camp and seeing some of the clips, you go back and watch their connection last year.

“If I had to ask all of us, ‘Who was in the NFL the best QBR wise quarterback to pass-catching option, single pass-catching option in the NFL last year… it wasn’t Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown. It wasn’t Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. It was these two. QBR wise it was Kenny Pickett and George Pickens. That is incredible.”

Orlovsky’s show co-hosts pushed back a little bit, particularly Adam Schefter.

He noted that while that might be accurate on the QBR, it doesn’t adjust for volume of attempts. Hurts, Mahomes and others threw more passes to their primary target than Pickett did. Still, Kenny Pickett’s connection with Pickens is impressive.

“I understand it’s fewer targets, but it speaks to how impressive they were when he threw him the football,” Orlovsky said.

And there’s certainly merit to that. Pickens has emerged as one of the most dynamic receivers in the league already after just one season, and expectations are sky high for Pickett after he helped lead four game-winning drives and three fourth-quarter comebacks in 2022.

Pickens racked up 52 catches for 801 yards and four touchdowns and it’s hard to see him not at least matching those numbers if he stays healthy again.

Pickett, meanwhile, didn’t have a single game with multiple touchdown passes in 2022, so there’s still some development to be made.