PHILADELPHIA — Kenny Pickett was just a blip on Howie Roseman’s radar screen before the University of Pittsburgh hosted Sam Howell and North Carolina in an interesting Atlantic Coast Conference game on Nov. 11, 2021.
NFL scouts and general managers like Roseman filled the super boxes largely because there were several pro prospects on the field that evening, starting with Pickett and Howell with first-round pick grades.
The rain was coming down in sheets, yet Pickett was throwing the ball around like it was just another workout. Rest assured that that wasn’t forgotten during the evaluation process before the 2021 draft. Pickett’s hands measured just 8.5 inches from thumb to pinky, which is alarmingly small for a quarterback to grip the ball under all conditions.
Pickett was exceptional that night, completing 25 of 43 passes for 346 yards with three touchdowns and just one interception to lift Pitt to a 30-23 triumph. Now he and Roseman are reunited, the Eagles last week surrendering a third-round pick and two seventh-round selections to acquire Pickett, who grew up in Ocean Twp., N.J. and attended Eagles games with his father back when Donovan McNabb and Jeff Garcia were quarterbacking the club.
“Talking with Howie, I think he said it was the first college game he was at in three years,” Pickett recalled at an availability Monday. “That Thursday night game when we played North Carolina at Heinz Field, great memory that I had at Pitt. It was really cool that he was in attendance and made it a point to be there after not previously going to a lot of games. I knew that there was definitely interest back in my Pitt days.”
Due to Covid, it was the fifth season of eligibility for Pickett. Nonetheless, at the school where Dan Marino won a national championship, Pickett became Pitt’s all-time leader in passing yards.
Subsequently Pickett came off the board as the 20th overall pick to the Steelers while Howell was a distant fifth-round pick of Washington. Pickett (6-3, 220) seemed a success as a Steelers starter before an injury setback, then losing his job to Mason Rudolph, who subsequently exited in free agency for the Tennessee Titans. The writing was on the wall last week when the Steelers acquired veteran Russell Wilson. After Pickett was dealt, the Steelers acquired Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears.
“I just felt it was time from the things that transpired,” Pickett said. “I wanted to get a chance to go somewhere else and continue to grow my career. The fact that it’s in Philly, the place I grew up and found my love for the game here, with a great coaching staff, great players, I’m looking forward to meeting all these guys in a couple weeks when everyone gets back in town. I think it’s an awesome opportunity to join this team.”
Clearly, there was no future in Pittsburgh for Pickett, who was 14-10 as the starter with 13 TD passes and 13 interceptions. Howell was just 5-13 for Washington, which is expected to select a quarterback with the second overall pick in the upcoming draft.
Pickett will back up Jalen Hurts with the Eagles, which isn’t exactly the type of veteran presence you want from the No. 2. For now it will do.
“This is a good reset,” Pickett said. “Getting a chance to play on this team, in that quarterback room with a couple great guys, helping those guys out. I’ll just be ready when my number’s called somewhere down the road.
“Watching some of the Eagles’ stuff last year, some of the RPO stuff, they get Jalen on the move a lot. I feel like I can do a lot of the same things. Then watching Coach (Kellen) Moore’s stuff in L.A. and Dallas, and what he did with Dak (Prescott), and what he did with Justin (Herbert) in L.A., getting under center, being in the gun, I think I can do both of those things. I think I showed that in Pittsburgh. They’ve got to figure out the system now, doing what they did last year here, and at their previous places terminology-wise and scheme-wise. So I’m excited to learn and take in as much as I can.”
