HENDERSON, Nev – The Las Vegas Raiders quarterback room was thrown into flux after Aidan O’Connell suffered a broken wrist in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals, but it’s safe to say the team succeeded in finding an adequate replacement in former first-round pick Kenny Pickett.

Pickett is precisely the kind of high-end backup that will stick around in the league for a decade-plus because of his malleability and upbeat attitude. While some first-round quarterbacks in his predicament would have rightfully been called a bust, the reality is that a weak crop of quarterbacks in the 2022 Draft led to his stock being drastically inflated in the first place. As Jalen Hurts’ backup in Philadelphia last season, Pickett was a valuable part of a Super Bowl-winning quarterback room.

That championship experience is a big reason why Raiders general manager Jon Spytek elected to send a fifth-round pick to Cleveland to acquire Pickett, along with the fact that Pickett is stylistically similar to starting quarterback Geno Smith, allowing Chip Kelly to seamlessly prepare for a circumstance where Pickett has to come in and take over a game. 

“I was in Tampa in 2022 when he was a rookie and beat us, beat Tom Brady,” Spytek said. “He fit the profile of what we’re looking for. He does a lot of similar things that Geno does with his athleticism and ability to move the pocket and all that. We felt like, organizationally, it made a lot of sense.

“I have a lot of respect for the player. He’s 15-10 as a starter. He’s had opportunities to play. He won a Super Bowl last year, so he knows what it looks like … He’s somebody we have a lot of respect for. We had great character reports coming with him coming out of Pitt a bunch of years ago, and we just felt like he was a good add for our culture and for our team.”

Pickett aims to bring the lessons he learned from winning a ring in Philadelphia to Las Vegas, explaining that it was an all-hands-on-deck effort with the Eagles last season that drove the team’s run to the title. 

“(The Eagles) showed me the process to become a champion, like every single day,” Pickett said. “I understood it from the front office to the coaching staff, to the players, everything’s connected. You’re doing everything for a reason. There are no questions on what the standard is. And I think having that, seeing it day by day, where if a guy gets out of line a little bit, the whole team’s there to snap him back in and we’re going again. 

“The main goal was the Super Bowl. Everyone’s goal was that from first on the depth chart to third. Guys were working hard, staying after practice, staying extra in meetings. There’s no secret to be great, so when you have that throughout the roster, throughout the team, you’ll find those results on Sundays.”

Not only is Pickett stylistically similar to Geno Smith, but the two have forged a relationship after training together this offseason. Pickett was expecting to compete for the Cleveland Browns’ starting job at that point, but an ill-timed injury in training camp spoiled his chances. Now that Pickett is in Vegas, he’s leaning on Smith to get caught up so he can make positive contributions to the QB room as soon as possible. 

“Geno’s awesome,” Pickett said. “We got to work together every day in the offseason. It’s actually crazy how this game works. He was like kind of my training partner. We were pushing each other every day in the weight room, on the field. We were throwing like three times a week. 

“It’s really funny now that we’re teammates and we’re kind of picking up right where we left off. He’s an awesome guy to learn from, here for him, whatever he needs. You know, he’s answering my questions. Obviously, I have a lot of them. I’m trying not to bother him too much, but it’s a great relationship, for sure … I just know that first things first, the type of person he is, he’s just a great human being.”