Kenny Pickett entered the league with plenty of weapons in his arsenal. But the analysts had already called out his relatively small hands ( 8½ inches). Interestingly, it did not deter the Steelers’ HC Mike Tomlin from drafting him in the first round of the 2022 Draft. The preseason went great, with the coach heaping praise on the young QB. But 3 seasons later, the signal caller has a 15-10 win-loss record and is still searching for his starter position in the league. What went wrong with the talented player?
There’s a moment when you realize that Kenny Pickett never had a real chance. Not in Pittsburgh under Mike Tomlin. And not with the system they forced him into. As one veteran AFC North voice, Aditi Kinkhabwala, put it plainly on the July 11 episode of Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, “I just feel this enormous sense of injustice when people talk about Kenny Pickett. He was perhaps over-drafted where he was drafted. It was a horrible year for quarterbacks.” That wasn’t the issue.
The issue was what happened after. Because Pickett didn’t walk into a quarterback competition, he walked into a power struggle. “He spent all of training camp as the number three quarterback, never ever taking a rep with the first team.” Kenny Pickett was QB3 the entire camp, and when he did enter a game, it wasn’t part of some strategic transition. It was spontaneous. “A few games into the season, in the middle of a game, still having never ever repped with the ones, he gets thrown in at halftime.”
That’s how you burn a quarterback. That’s how you lose a locker room. And that’s what Mike Tomlin allowed. Pickett got tossed into a situation where the offensive coordinator, Matt Canada, was wildly underqualified. That coordinator ran what Aditi described as “the most dysfunctional, predictable offense that there is. He takes no input from anybody.” This wasn’t just about a bad playbook. It was about an entire environment working against a rookie quarterback.
Add to a leaking offensive line, no consistent run game, and a receiver room that lacked discipline. And if you’re the Cleveland Browns, with their own long and complicated quarterback history, you better be watching.
Browns are still unsure of Kenny Pickett
Earlier this offseason, Cleveland traded a fifth-round pick and Dorian Thompson-Robinson to the Eagles to bring in the former first-rounder. They talked him up, praising his decision-making, mobility, and toughness. But when the May deadline came around, they passed on his fifth-year option. That’s $22.4 million off the table. And that’s the Browns saying that we like you, but we’re not sure yet.
This isn’t personal. It’s business. The Browns have been burned before, Baker Mayfield, Deshaun Watson, a laundry list of short-term answers and long-term questions. So with Pickett, they’re playing this smart. Let him compete and earn it. They want to see how he handles pressure. And, how he fights in a crowded room that includes Joe Flacco, third-rounder Dillon Gabriel, and rookie wildcard Shedeur Sanders.
NFL, American Football Herren, USA Cleveland Browns Minicamp Jun 12, 2025 Berea, OH, USA Cleveland Browns quarterback Kenny Pickett 8 looks on during mini camp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Berea CrossCountry Mortgage Campus OH USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKenxBlazex 20250612_kab_bk4_034
Kenny Pickett? He’s not flinching and has already gotten first-team reps. He’s worked with Jerry Jeudy in the offseason. And when asked what this year means, he didn’t blink, “I think it’s just taking advantage of my opportunity, when it’s there… I’m trying to find that place and figure it out.” That’s a quarterback who understands the stakes. One year. No safety net. Just tape and trust.
And maybe that’s what makes this setup so fascinating. If Pickett takes the job and makes it work, he won’t just be winning a quarterback competition. He’ll be rewriting the narrative that Pittsburgh stamped on him. The Browns didn’t commit $22 million. They gave him something rarer, a clean slate.
The post Mike Tomlin Set Kenny Pickett Up for Failure as Browns Refuse $22M Amid QB Battle, Says Insider appeared first on EssentiallySports.