Despite their win over the Cleveland Browns on Monday, Pro Football Focus is not too kind to the team overall. Most of their elite grades are apparent, but the rest of the team fell short of playing at a high level. That goes especially for their quarterback, Kenny Pickett. Pickett has appeared out of sorts in his first two games. While Monday was a slight improvement from where he was against the 49ers, it still fell below the line.
Pro Football Focus agrees and rated Pickett the worst quarterback in the entire NFL for the week. Pickett earned just a 35.0 grade, beating out Desmond Ridder, Zach Wilson, and Justin Fields for the worst grades of the week. Something is off with Pickett, who looks wholly flustered and out of it.
Pickett struggled in the pocket and bailed on some clean pockets to run into bad sacks or pressure. Moreover, his accuracy is still all over the place. That is something that you felt like you knew about Pickett coming into this year. Now, I’m not sure what to think.
While he only threw one pick, he should thrown at least one more. The decision-making is not there, and Pickett has regressed on some points. That is a wild thought but something that is a reality right now. Kenny Pickett needs to continue to get better. This was another ugly performance, though not as ugly as Week 1’s debacle.
The steps backward are concerning for him. He is doing nothing at a high level right now, but he gets a lighter schedule for the next two weeks. If there were ‘get right’ games, the Raiders and Texans would not be bad teams on the schedule. However, Pickett has to show that the second-year leap will come at some point, or the team needs to think much differently about its future at the position.