Kenny Pickett Is The Pittsburgh Steelers’ New QB And Was As Emotional About Being Drafted As Anyone You’ll Ever See

Justin Berl. Getty Images.

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It took forever, but finally, with the 20th overall pick, the first quarterback came off the board in the 2022 NFL Draft — and speaking purely as an impartial viewer, seeing how Kenny Pickett reacted to staying in Pittsburgh as a Steeler was pretty awesome to watch.

Look at this man. Look how happy his friends and family are around him. This is what the NFL Draft is all about right here:

The Steelers didn't have a contingency plan for longtime franchise QB Ben Roethlisberger even when it was apparent that he was declining toward the end of his career. With Big Ben freshly retired, the team didn't inspire a ton of excitement by tabbing Mitch Trubisky as a potential 2022 starter.

Turns out, outgoing GM Kevin Colbert had something else up his sleeve. He dropped the damn mic, held steady at 20th overall as all kinds of CRAZY trades were flying in among the teams picking ahead of them. Maybe Pittsburgh knew Pickett would fall, or maybe there was a plan in place to move up if necessary. Instead, the trades were mostly made to acquire wide receivers, so it pushed Pickett and all the other quarterbacks down the board.

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Pickett's Pitt Panthers have the same home turf as the Steelers at Heinz FIeld. This was a unique situation where the organization could really do its homework on Pickett as a prospect. He didn't put everything together until 2021 as a fifth-year senior. It was a breakout campaign for Pickett, who threw for 4,319 yards, 42 TDs and only seven INTs in 13 starts. His late-blooming status, high football IQ, pinpoint accuracy, underrated arm strength and excellent mobility are all traits that bring to mind another AFC North QB, Cincinnati's Joe Burrow. Not saying Pickett will be as good as him! It's just that there are undeniable similarities there.

Pickett seems like a good dude, too, so you combine that with his perseverance through an ACL injury and several years of development at the collegiate level, and he checks even more of those "intangibles" boxes.

Anyway, even as a fan of the rival Bengals, I can appreciate how epic this moment was for Pickett. I really liked him as a prospect and felt he was definitely worthy of a first-round pick. Whether he can develop into an elite-tier QB is another matter, but given Colbert's exceptional draft record, it wouldn't be a huge surprise.