On Tuesday, ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. addressed the media on a conference call and talked about where he would put Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett in comparison to the 2023 crop of quarterbacks.
According to Kiper, Pickett is still a first-round pick if he were in the 2023 NFL draft but would be the fifth quarterback taken.
“If he were in this draft, he’d probably be in the fifth spot, solidly behind that top group,” Kiper said.
“Some would even say (Pickett) would be in there with Levis,” Kiper said. “Maybe some people would argue he’d be ahead of Levis. I would say he’d still be in that first round, certainly the fifth quarterback taken with four guys potentially going in the top five.
The Pickett to Levis comparison is a sound one. It’s hard to put Pickett ahead of C.J. Stroud, Byrce Young or Anthony Richardson but Pickett’s game was more complete coming out of Pitt than Levis’ is coming out of Kentucky so it would probably come down to a team’s personal preference.
One big difference in 2022 to 2023 for Pickett would be placement. It’s hard to imagine in a quarterback-starved league he would fall all the way to No. 20 again. There are just too many teams this offseason willing to invest in a young quarterback for him to slide twice.
Let us know in the comments what you think of how Kiper characterized Pickett compared to this year’s quarterback class.
