When the Browns discuss Kenny Pickett, they say all the right things, but what will his performance say about him? Now on his third team in three years, he is vying for another starting job in the AFC North. His competition is not the fiercest, but most on the outside seem to expect him to lose. Even if that goes against what appears to be what the Browns hope for.
Recently, Pickett’s former Steelers teammate, WR Diontae Johnson, said he thinks Pickett will win the Browns’ starting job. Pickett and Johnson are both trying to make Cleveland’s 53-man roster right now, with no guarantees that they will. Frankly, Johnson’s opinion on their quarterback race doesn’t mean much, but Gregg Rosenthal thinks he’s right, in one aspect.
“Ultimately, I think Diontae Johnson is right that the Browns want Kenny Pickett to win the job”, he said on NFL Insiders yesterday. “But I think Joe Flacco will win the job. My main reason is just watching how Kenny Pickett has handled his last two opportunities. The film does not lie. And you look at two organizations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, who both need quarterbacks, who essentially gave up on Kenny Pickett”.
In other words, the Browns might hope for Kenny Pickett to be better than he is. And that might not be entirely unfair, at least based on one first-hand observer. Browns beat writer Zac Jackson called Kenny Pickett “unremarkable” throughout. He also predicted that Joe Flacco would win the starting job, as many others believe. Rosenthal, though, is going on Pickett’s history rather than first-hand Browns observations.
“Last year, the Eagles essentially gave Kenny Pickett away”, he said, referring to their trading him to Cleveland. “So if we’re gonna spend this whole offseason saying Howie Roseman is the best general manager in the game, … and he basically decided to give Kenny Pickett away because Tanner McKee than him, then ultimately I think Joe Flacco’s gonna be a better quarterback than him”.
The Steelers selected Kenny Pickett 20th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. In 2024, they traded him and a fourth-round pick to the Eagles for a third-round pick and two seventh-round picks. After spending the season as Jalen Hurts’ backup and unremarkably in reserve, they decided to trade him.
The Browns sent the Eagles a fifth-round pick and QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson in exchange for Pickett. That’s more than essentially giving him away, as Rosenthal implies, but it’s still cheap for a starting quarterback.
Now in his fourth season, Kenny Pickett is running out of time to prove himself. Late-career quarterback success stories are few and are between, and generally don’t go anywhere. These days, people like to bring up Geno Smith, but to what end? The Seahawks are 28-24 with one playoff appearance in three seasons with Smith. Over the past two years, he has 41 touchdowns to 24 interceptions.
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