Pickett will presumably compete with free agent signing Mitchell Trubisky for the starting job in Pittsburgh. He struggled during his first four seasons in college for the Pittsburgh Panthers, but Pickett had a breakout fifth-year with 4,319 yards, 42 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and a 67.2 completion percentage.

Pickett led the 2022 draft class in Passing Efficiency Rating, adjusted yards per attempt (9.7), and QBR (81.2), with the latter ranking ninth in the nation. He also ranks in the 95th percentile with 51 games of 10-plus pass attempts. On the other side of the equation, only 15.1% of Pickett's pass attempts came against defenses ranked inside the top 50 by Bill Connelly's SP+, which is the eighth-lowest mark among all quarterbacks drafted since 2010. No other quarterback in this class had less than 28% of their attempts against top-50 defenses.