Well Kenny Pickett's first year is in the books and his stats last season were
13 Games 7-6 Record 245 completions, 389 pass attempts comp 62.98% for 2,404 yds passing. 7 TD's, 9 INT's, QBR 76.7, Yards Per Attempt 6.18
Going into year 2 we even hear Mike Tomlin saying he expects alot from Pickett.....I think the expectations might be a little bit too much for Kenny Pickett but in his 2nd year realistically what do you expect from Kenny statwise to consider his second season a success?
I honestly think if we see him throw for 3,600 yards 22 TD's and less than 10 INT's 66% completion, with a QBR in the mid-high 80's and a YPA in the 7.2 range I'd consider it a big leap from him for season 2 and a big success.
Post your thoughts below....
Oh boy.
A few predictions.
1. About 210 yards passing a game or less. Ie, he is a
game manger who will need turnovers from the defense and a good running game to function well. He is
1-4 last year when throwing it 32 times or more. KP8 threw it very short most of the time. Easy passes. This inflated his completion % a bit, as did the amazing catches by his receiver Pickens.
Red flag
2. He won't last the season without getting knocked out of games and will miss some games due to injury. He has two concussions less than a full season's worth of games. That is alarming for a young player as concussions tend to become easier when you get multiple of them in a short amount of time. He has a special helmet now to help prevent concussions, but the problem remains. That's not the problem, he plays football and was KO'd by light hits.
Red flag
3. As a rookie he did not show the arm and lacked the velocity of the 5,6,7,and 8 routes. It's the arm, and it is sub par the standards of NFL starting quarterbacks.
Red flag
4. A Qb rating under 85, which is not good these days.
But he was a rookie last year. Yeah -- I know rookies make mistakes and have a lot to learn at quarterback, but I find it alarming that the playbook was dumbed down that much, and alarming he did show me many " wow " moments that would suggest he is a top 14 QB. With the amount of college games played and his age, the conclusion is his " upside " is fuller than say a player who started about half as many college games and is a younger man.
I guarantee you some yinzers or blind homer fans willl compare his rookie year to past players who did not play as many games in college or players that played decades ago. The game has changed a bit since then.
But is he a smart QB, meaning his football IQ is good? I would say no, and point out his wonderlic score of 17 which is very low for a QB. Most modern QB's who score a 17 or less are lousy passers. You may find a QB with a great arm that scored low on the wonderlic from a player that played decades ago. The game changed. Some of those QB's had great arms. Okay, but Pickett does not have a great arm. He does not even have a good arm. Frankly the arm he has shown in the NFL is below average by the standard of NFL starting QB's.
In fact to my detractors and you know who you are, take this open challenge. Can you find me one nfl player who had Kp8's tiny 8.5 inch hands and scored a 17 or below on the wonderlic that amounted to being a good pro QB? I can not. I would not have drafted Pickett in round one, or round two. I think history will show we passed on better QB's.
