Kenny Pickett was the only quarterback selected in the first round of the 2022 draft.
In a 12-start sample size, Pickett looks like he can grow into being a franchise QB.
Pickett finished the season completing 63 percent of his passes for 2,404 yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions. He helped pilot the club to comeback victories over Las Vegas and Baltimore in Weeks 16 and 17 before a more thorough beating of Cleveland to end his rookie campaign.
As he enters his first offseason as a pro, Pickett said in an interview with Dale Lolley of the team’s website that taking “full ownership of the offense” is the next step he wants to take over the course of the offseason. While Pickett didn’t say it, that’s a process made easier given that Matt Canada will return as the team’s offensive coordinator.
“When I first started this season, it was ‘Alright, I get to play. A, B, C, the basics, and move on to the next play.’ Now, the more comfortable you get, you’re seeing things a step faster,” Picket said. “You’re taking advantage of alert plays in the system that you can get more shot plays from.
“They’re giving me more responsibility from that aspect of it and giving me the green light to go do more things. I think complete ownership of the system is really what I want to do. And that will take our offense to the next level.”
Pickett acknowledged the ups and downs of his first year with the Steelers, but noted that the experience he gained late in the year should pay off in the future.
“I learned from the negatives early on and kind of eliminated them in the second half of the season, protecting the football, taking a lot of pride in that, putting points on the board, and just finding ways to win games.
“Down the stretch, the two-minute [drills], learning how to do that at the pro level as opposed to the college level, there are different rules, the stoppage of the clock after first downs, things like that. There were things I was learning early on, and I was kind of eliminating those things in the second half. That’s what I was most proud of.”
If Pickett can take that significant jump from Year One to Year Two, then the Steelers might really make some noise in the competitive AFC North in 2023.