Mel Kiper slots Pitt's Kenny Pickett No. 1 among quarterbacks in 2022 NFL Draft
Only a few days after ESPN’s Sean McDonough and Todd Blackledge gushed over Kenny Pickett during the Clemson game, the sports network has bestowed another honor on Pitt’s quarterback.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper placed Pickett atop his quarterback ranking for the 2022 NFL Draft. Also, Kiper ranks Pickett 15th among his top 25 prospects.
Among those points Kiper makes to justify his ranking of Pickett:
• He compares his climb among the top quarterbacks in college football to that of 2020 No. 1 overall draft choice Joe Burrow, who transferred from Ohio State and then threw 60 touchdown passes while leading LSU to a national championship after the 2019 season.
• Pickett’s outstanding completion percentage (68.9), quarterback rating (88.1) and 18 career rushing touchdowns while throwing 23 touchdown passes and only one interception in 244 pass attempts.
• His 43 career starts. “NFL teams will like that he has experience,” Kiper writes. The most recent first-round choice with that many starts was Baker Mayfield (46).
Others on the list are Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, who is ranked second; North Carolina’s Sam Howell, who is No. 5 and has a quarterback showdown scheduled with Pickett on Nov. 11 at Heinz Field; and Pine-Richland graduate Phil Jurkovec, currently injured at Boston College, who is No. 6.
Kiper also points out that Pickett has “some bad tape on his resume.”
“Scouts and execs are going to have to be comfortable with his improvement and believe that he’s a different quarterback,” he writes. “The signs are there, and his ability to use his legs to maneuver the pocket and scramble when he has to is underrated.
“I really like Pickett’s 2021 tape. In a quarterback class that is far from settled, he’s my new No. 1 guy.”
Meanwhile, the buzz around Pickett’s Heisman Trophy candidacy got louder Tuesday when The Athletic conducted a straw vote for the award and the Pitt quarterback ended up in a tie for second with Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral. The “winner” by six points was Alabama quarterback Bryce Young in a voting system identical to the Heisman’s method (three points for first place, two for second and one for third).
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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