Mike Tomlin addresses potential quarterback starter after drafting Kenny Pickett in NFL Draft

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett out of Pittsburgh with the 20th overall selection in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin just spoke with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen during their draft coverage and talked about his new quarterback and whether or not he has a chance to be their starting quarterback for Week 1.

“Yeah he certainly has a chance….We felt he came ready and hopefully that’s an asset to him being ready–if performance dictates,” Tomlin said.

Despite making the big jump from college to the NFL next season, a few things will remain the same for Kenny Pickett in his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who took him 20th overall on Thursday in the 2022 NFL Draft. Not only will the quarterback play in the same city that he did in college, but he will also wear No. 8, just like he did for the past five seasons with the Pittsburgh Panthers.

In five seasons with the Panthers before entering the NFL Draft, Pickett threw for 12,303 yards with 81 touchdowns and 32 interceptions while completing 62.4 percent of his passes. Although not considered a major running threat, he also added 809 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.

NFL draft analysts on Kenny Pickett

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein broke down what Kenny Pickett can bring to the NFL in his recent scout of the quarterback’s draft profile. The analyst compared the Pittsburgh quarterback to prime Andy Dalton, who led the Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs but could not win in the postseason.

The NFL.com scout pointed out that while he is not the perfect prospect, his ability to play immediately in a weak quarterback class make him a valuable asset for teams in need of a franchise leader now.

“Pickett has five years of game experience and four years of starting experience for Pitt,” wrote Zierlein. “He’s a fairly toolsy pocket passer with good mobility. He operated in a passing scheme featuring vertical concepts that created big-play opportunities but left food on the plate when he failed to play chess against the back-end of the coverage.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels and James Fletcher III also contributed to this article.