On a recent episode of the I Am Athlete podcast that featured Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool, former standout Pitt running back and five-time NFL Pro Bowler, LeSean McCoy, had glowing remarks about Kenny Pickett. McCoy doesn’t think Pickett will start right away, but he’ll be QB1 by Week 6.
“Listen, you know I am 96.7 (percent) of the time right. He gonna be your starting quarterback,” McCoy said. “Not Week 1, not Week 2, Week 6! Week 6, he’s going to carry Pittsburgh. The tradition, Big Ben, he’s leaving it in his hands. I’ll tell you that right now. And you know, I am always right.”
Claypool responded by asking McCoy if he’s biased in any way since he went to Pitt like Pickett.
“Listen, Kenny Pickett is the truth,” McCoy said. “Nah serious, if you watched his last year in college, he was going crazy. And he (didn’t) have these players like Alabama and all these other (schools).”
Marshall interrupted McCoy and said Pickett had one of the best wide receivers in the business, referring to Jordan Addison, who transferred to USC in May on a NIL mega-deal and is projected to be a first-round pick in 2023.
McCoy continued with a comment that absolutely stunned Adam “Pacman” Jones and Brandon Marshall.
“Listen, I’ll say it like this, Joe Burrow, Kenny Pickett. I can’t see the difference,” McCoy said. Only thing I see, I see a guy that’s tough.”
After getting flak from Jones and Marshall for mentioning Pickett in the same breath as Burrow, McCoy said, “Y’all say that because he went to Pitt!” Claypool then jumped in and said, “That’s my dog, Kenny is about to be the greatest of all time.”
“He looks good. He’s mobile. He’s faster than people think,” Claypool said when McCoy asked him how Pickett is looking. “So, that’s going to be new for us. I think it’s gonna create plays. You see so many of Ja’Marr (Chase) plays and Tee (Higgins) plays are from Joe leaving the pocket (and) making plays happen. And you know, we’re young, we’re versatile, we’re dynamic. He’s going to add to that. Whether it’s Mitch (Trubisky), because Mitch is also mobile, Mason (Rudolph) or Kenny.”
While McCoy’s comparison of Pickett to Burrow might sound outlandish, he isn’t the first person to see similarities between the two quarterbacks. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy sees Burrow-like qualities in Pickett, as well.
“I know that just the way he’s wired and spending time around him and the kind of guy he is, and talking with the guys at the Manning (Passing Academy) that have been around him and the guys at Pitt, he’s going to crush this process,” Nagy said at the Senior Bowl. “I think he’s already starting to in the interviews right now. He’s got a really cool way about him. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Burrow when I got to know Joe through this process. He’s just, guys gravitate to him. He’s a leader. It comes easy to him. So this is the start of a big week for him.”