ESPN’s Foxworth: Steelers Must See More on Kenny Pickett

ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth is one of the first to question the Pittsburgh Steelers first round pick of Kenny Pickett. Foxworth’s analysis came during the draft night coverage over on ESPN.

“When you walk into the Steelers facility and get a good look at it,” said Foxworth. “When you pull up. There’s a big Steelers helmet and a big Pitt Panthers helmet. They literally share a building. So they know what they’re getting and I guess they saw more than what we saw.”

The broadcast team compared the quarterback’s rise to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s rise in college. Burrow famously transferred from — to LSU and led the Tigers to a College Football Playoff Championship. He was drafted by the Bengals with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft and led the team to the Super Bowl in his second-year in 2021.

They later played a game naming comparable quarterbacks to Pickett. Former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo was the first comparable quarterback named given their similar height (6-foot-2 for Romo, 6-foot-3 for Pickett) and small hand size.

The big comparable quarterback has been Derek Carr and the ESPN crew make that comparison here. Carr has had an up-and-down tenure as the starter of the Las Vegas Raiders, but recently led his team to the playoffs despite a turbulent 2021 season for the franchise.

The Steelers made Kenny Pickett the No. 20 overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. He was the first and only quarterback taken as Liberty’s Malik Willis, Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder and Ole Miss’s Sam Howell all remained on the board at the end of the night.

Foxworth is right when he says that the Steelers see more as the team is already expecting him to compete for the starting job with Mason Rudolph and Mitch Trubisky this upcoming season.