AP
Termin one of the Drafts strangest of the NFL in recent years, just one quarterback chosen in the first round and until the 20th pick. The Pittsburgh Steelers, a team with an urgent need to fill that gap after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger and the tragic death a few days ago Dwayne Haskinswhoever fought for the position, took Kenny Picketta graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, who did not have the spotlight on him
Pittsburgh took a risk because the mistake they made in 1983 weighs on them, when they let Dan Marino and spent a decade filling the gap left by Terry Bradshaw. Now, they are hopeful that Pickett will become the team’s new franchise quarterback, on a roster where there were many doubts.
Pickett also didn’t come to Las Vegas to wait to be drafted to avoid the anguish of letting shift after shift go by, waiting to be recruited. She preferred to go to New Jersey to watch the show from his house, with his family and his fiancee.
League scouts noted that he has very small hands for his position, something that generated many doubts about his ability to succeed at the highest level of competition, in addition, his development was slow.
Although in five seasons Pickett accumulated 1,045 completions for 12,303 yards, 81 touchdowns and 32 interceptions, he also had 416 carries for 809 yards with 20 rushing touchdowns. But his breakthrough was until 2021, when he guided his team for a 11-2 record in games he startedrepresenting the best mark of the program since 1976.
pass for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdown passes Pickett’s in 2021 were a record for the program, as well as an ACC division record for touchdown passes, surpassing the 40 mark held by Deshaun Watson.
In fact, Marino top reference at the University of Pittsburgh never exceeded 3 thousand receiving yards in his four seasons as a collegiate and his year with the most touchdowns was 37. At the end of the 2021 season, Pickett announced that he would not play the Peach Bowl to focus on the Draft and Pittsburgh lost 21-31 to Michigan State.
However, he was in third place in the voting for the 2021 Heisman Trophy behind the winner Alabama’s Bryce Young Y Aidan Hutchinson from Michigan.
In it NFL scouting combine this year, Pickett toured the 40 yards in 4.73 secondshis vertical jump was 33.5 inches and his long jump was 10 feet 1 inch.
With these records, Pickett is only the fourth quarterback chosen by the Steelers in the first round of the draft in history, joining the select duo of Ben Roethlisberger and Bradshaw, as well as Mark Malone. But they must have passed 18 years for the black and gold team to choose a quarterback in the first round, the fourth longest streak in the league, behind the Seattle Seahawks (1993), Dallas Cowboys (1989) and New Orleans Saints (1971).
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Kenny Pickett, hope of the Steelers and the great story of the NFL Draft 2022
