Kenny Pickett

Former quarterback at Pittsburgh. 2021: 4,319 passing yards, 42 TD, 7 INT.

QB · Pittsburgh · Sr. · #8

6′3″ · 220 lb · Oakhurst, NJ

CFB Index 83 · #7 of 126 QBsHigh confidencePOTY finalist (model)Pittsburgh — drafted 2022, Rd 1, Pick 20, #20 overall

Recruiting

3★

PRO recruit

No. 736 nationally · Signed with Pittsburgh

Statement game382 yds · 6 TDvs Western Michigan (FBS) · L 41-44

Top 0.1% passing TDs game since 2021.

From PantherLair (Pitt sports news account): [Kenny Pickett is back on the sidelines and throwing.](https://twitter.com/PantherLair/status/1439271983804559367)r/CFB game thread · ▲ 10His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former quarterback at Pittsburgh. 2021: 4,319 passing yards, 42 TD, 7 INT.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Pittsburgh in 2017.
Drafted round 1 by the Pittsburgh in 2022.
Named All-America (WCFF) in 2021.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Pittsburgh, 12,303 passing yards, an All-American season (2021) — drafted at #20 overall by Pittsburgh.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20174 games

Signed with Pittsburgh3-star out of Ocean Township

202113 games

The role got bigger.

All-Americafirst · 2 selectors
All-ACCfirst
Unitas Golden Armwinner

2022

Drafted by Pittsburghround 1, pick 20

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#736 national

CFB

College

Pittsburgh

2017–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

R1 · #20

Pittsburgh · 2022

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

7 honors · 2 categories

🥇

ALL-AMERICA

Named All-American (2021)

2 selectors honored him

🥈

ALL-ACC · 1ST TEAM

All-ACC 1st team (2021)

Featured in The Canon

#36

The 100 Best Players of the CFP Era

Coaching lineage · 2017–2021

1 coach

2017–2021

Pat Narduzzi

Pittsburgh

Played his entire career under Pat Narduzzi.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

PittsburghEntering 5th NFL season

#20Rd 1 · Pick 20

PittsburghEntering 5th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

5 seasons under Pat Narduzzi — 37-27 over that span.

2017Pittsburgh5-7HC: Pat Narduzzi · Run-leaning

2018Pittsburgh7-7HC: Pat Narduzzi · Run-heavy

2019Pittsburgh8-5HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced

2020Pittsburgh6-5HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced

2021Pittsburgh11-3HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced, fast tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

83All-Conference level #7 of 126?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: explosive rate (94th percentile). Strength: success rate (91st percentile). Concern: fumbles lost (14th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#10 / 167 · 94th pct

14.0%

Success rate#15 / 167 · 91st pct

52.7%

EPA / dropback#26 / 167 · 85th pct

0.40

Interception rate#48 / 167 · 72nd pct

1.6%

Sack rate#74 / 167 · 56th pct

5.8%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#4 / 169 · 98th pct

Pass yards#6 / 169 · 97th pct

4319

Yards / att#22 / 169 · 86th pct

8.7

Completion %#27 / 169 · 84th pct

67.2%

Rush TDs#30 / 169 · 80th pct

Rush yards#49 / 169 · 71st pct

241

Interceptions#87 / 169 · 42nd pct

Fumbles lost#125 / 159 · 14th pct

Season trend

EPA / dropback— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Success rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Explosive rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Sack rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Interception rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

301/455 (66.2%) · 42 TD · 7 INT

455 of 497 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

8.9912 of 204 QBs

Sack rate

5.5%86 of 204 QBs

Rarely sacked (86 of 204 QBs) and still 12 of 204 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

49%of completions

146 comp5.0 yds avg6 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

30%of completions

91 comp13.4 yds avg7 TD

Deep

20+ yds

21%of completions

64 comp31.0 yds avg13 TD

Overall 66.2% completion on 455 attempts · 64 deep completions averaging 31.0 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2021 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home7g	366	3.6	9.6	0.9
Road6g	292	2.8	7.9	0.2

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	322	3.5	9.7	0.2
Weeks 8+7g	341	3.0	8.0	0.9

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Pat Narduzzi

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2021

POTY finalist (model)

Our Heisman model has him in the top five; no finalist honor is on the books yet.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

83 · #7 of 126 QBs

Three-star recruit. Now #7 at the position.

Selector Grid · 2021

AP—

FWAA—

AFCA1st

WCFF1st

SN—

SI—

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	Pittsburgh	334	497	67.2%	4,319	8.7	42	7	165.3	69	--	--
2020	Pittsburgh	204	333	61.3%	2,408	7.2	13	9	129.5	41	--	--
2019	Pittsburgh	289	469	61.6%	3,098	6.6	13	9	122.4	--	--	--
2018	Pittsburgh	180	309	58.3%	1,969	6.4	12	6	120.7	--	--	--
2017	Pittsburgh	39	66	59.1%	509	7.7	1	1	125.8	--	--	--
Career		1,046	1,674	62.5%	12,303	7.3	81	32	136.4	58	--	--

Season	Team
2021	Pittsburgh	97	241	2.5	5	--
2020	Pittsburgh	81	162	2.0	8	--
2019	Pittsburgh	95	110	1.2	2	--
2018	Pittsburgh	117	221	1.9	3	--
2017	Pittsburgh	26	93	3.6	2	--
Career		416	827	2.0	20	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 8 · 2021

W 27–17

vs Clemson

302 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 91.5 · 15 rush yds (7 car)

With K. Christodoulou — 47 AVG · 1 IN 20 · 58 LONG · S. Scarton — 44 LONG · 100 PCT · 9 PTS

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 12 · Virginia · 3&5 · Q4 · EPA +6.33Kenny Pickett pass complete to Jordan Addison for 62 yds for a TD, (Sam Scarton KICK)
Week 14 · Wake Forest · 3&5 · Q1 · EPA +6.05Kenny Pickett 58 Yd Run (Sam Scarton Kick)
Week 5 · Georgia Tech · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +5.44Kenny Pickett pass complete to Taysir Mack for 55 yds for a TD, (Sam Scarton KICK)
Week 3 · Western Michigan · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +5.43Kenny Pickett pass complete to Jordan Addison for 67 yds for a TD, (Sam Scarton KICK)
Week 8 · Clemson · 4&5 · Q2 · EPA +5.39Kenny Pickett pass complete to Taysir Mack for 39 yds for a TD (Sam Scarton KICK)
Week 12 · Virginia · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA +4.37Kenny Pickett pass complete to Jordan Addison for 34 yds for a TD, (Sam Scarton KICK)
Week 4 · New Hampshire · 2&13 · Q1 · EPA +4.18Kenny Pickett pass complete to Jordan Addison for 47 yds to the NHamp 33 for a 1ST down
Week 9 · Miami · 3&6 · Q1 · EPA +3.91Kenny Pickett pass complete to Gavin Bartholomew for 37 yds to the MiaFl 34 for a 1ST down
Week 4 · New Hampshire · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.61Kenny Pickett pass complete to Jordan Addison for 47 yds for a TD (Sam Scarton KICK)
Week 4 · New Hampshire · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.54Kenny Pickett pass complete to Jordan Addison for 46 yds for a TD (Sam Scarton KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 51-7vs Massachusetts	27/37	272	2	0	7.4	71.6	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 2	W 41-34@ Tennessee	24/36	285	2	0	7.9	88.5	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 3	L 41-44vs Western Michigan	23/31	382	6	1	12.3	92.3	6 TD passes
Wk 4	W 77-7vs New Hampshire	24/28	403	5	0	14.4	97.6	5 TD passes
Wk 5	W 52-21@ Georgia Tech	23/36	389	4	0	10.8	86.9	4 TD passes
Wk 7	W 28-7@ Virginia Tech	22/37	203	2	0	5.5	67.4
Wk 8	W 27-17vs Clemson	25/39	302	2	0	7.7	91.5	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 9	L 34-38vs Miami	39/55	519	3	2	9.4	75.7	Season-high 519 yds
Wk 10	W 54-29@ Duke	28/43	416	3	0	9.7	85.1	3 TD passes
Wk 11	W 30-23vs North Carolina	25/43	346	3	1	8.0	63.5	3 TD passes
Wk 12	W 48-38vs Virginia	26/41	340	4	2	8.3	60.7	4 TD passes
Wk 13	W 31-14@ Syracuse	28/38	209	4	1	5.5	79.0	4 TD passes
Wk 14	W 45-21@ Wake Forest	20/33	253	2	0	7.7	78.1	Clean 2-TD game
Total		334/497	4319	42	7	8.8	79.8

How he plays

Play style

High-percentage passer who protects the ball. Loses the matchup on improvisation.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

57.7%Completion %

21.1%Conversion/dropback

60.0%Land short of sticks

0INTs

57.7% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 21.1% conversion-per-dropback — 60.0% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design