Feb. 28, 2026, 8:13 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Former Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> quarterback Kenny Pickett<\/a> is known by many names \u2014 Kenny Two Gloves, the quarterback who got thrown by the football<\/a>, and most recently, Super Bowl (backup) Kenny<\/a>. But there\u2019s another title Pickett was bestowed by ESPN: the worst first-round quarterback since 2021.<\/p>\n As the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine continues to heat up, ESPN’s Matt Miller<\/a> ranked every quarterback selected in the first round since 2021 \u2014 and Pickett finished at No. 18, the worst spot available.<\/p>\n “The opinions on Pickett were mixed when asking evaluators to grade his game. He ended up being the only quarterback taken in the first round of a weak 2022 class, and the only one drafted in the first 73 picks (the best 2022 QB, Purdy, was selected with the final pick of the draft). Pickett threw 42 touchdown passes during his final season at Pitt, but he also lacked arm strength,” Miller wrote.<\/p>\n “He completed only 63% of his throws and threw nine interceptions over 13 games as a rookie. Pickett wasn’t able to establish himself as the long-term answer in Pittsburgh, losing his starting job in 2023 before getting traded to the Eagles in 2024. He was traded twice more in 2025, from the Eagles to the Browns in the spring and from the Browns to the Raiders in the preseason.”<\/p>\n Pickett has almost played for as many teams as he has thrown touchdowns in a single season and could be on the verge of yet another new NFL home in 2026 free agency.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Jokes aside, selecting Pickett in the first round was one of the worst draft mistakes the Steelers<\/a> made in recent years, and Pittsburgh would be wise to avoid a similar situation made out of desperation in 2026.<\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers\u00a0coverage, including any offseason moves, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 28, 2026, 8:13 p.m. ET Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett is known by many names \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[95878,7,6,520,57,2360,96718,96719,426,95882,96537,95892,99097,95896,95888,95895,96684,95897,96720,96071,95902,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-783857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","15":"tag-sstsnsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbrock-purdy","19":"tag-tagespn-inc","20":"tag-tagkenny-pickett","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","25":"tag-tagoverall-negative","26":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","27":"tag-tagsmg-timely","28":"tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","29":"tag-tagsports-news","30":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116152644825881907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}