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Cleveland Browns quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Kenny Pickett has made it clear he intends to compete for the Browns’ starting quarterback job — and Cleveland may be open to giving him that shot.
The Browns traded for Pickett in March, bringing him over from the Philadelphia Eagles. He was the only healthy quarterback on the roster until Cleveland signed 40-year-old veteran Joe Flacco on April 11.
Shortly after Flacco was signed, Pickett reiterated his desire to be the starter in Cleveland.
“That’s the plan, man (to start),” Pickett said Saturday during the Pitt spring game, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I’m not going there to hang out. I want to go play. I’m excited, been working hard for it, taking it a day at a time.”
Pickett also expressed his admiration for Flacco, who is one of the most respected veteran passers in the league.
“I’ve heard nothing but great things about Joe,” Pickett said. “I’ve been watching him since I was 10 years old. Total respect for Joe, what he’s done and I’m excited to get to work with him, too.”
Browns ‘Really High’ on Kenny Pickett
The Browns have high hopes for Pickett, per insider Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. The team is hoping that the former first-round pick can find his footing with the change of scenery.
“The way that everyone talked up Kenny Pickett at the NFL annual meeting, the way Kenny Pickett is talking about himself, I think the Browns are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with him, in the same way some of these other teams have with former first-round picks who show promise early on, but needed a change of scenery, needed a different environment to operate in,” Cabot said Tuesday on 92.3 The Fan. “I think they are really, really high on Kenny Pickett.”
Pickett was a first-round pick in 2022 of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He spent two years as the starter in Pittsburgh, posting a 14-10 record. He posted 4,474 yards, 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in a Steelers uniform.
He spent last season backing up Jalen Hurts and was called into action down the stretch. Pickett completed 25-of-42 passes while with the Eagles, collecting 291 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Browns Done With Deshaun Watson
The Browns find themselves in their current quarterback dilemma largely because the failed 2022 blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson. Cleveland gave up three first-round picks and additional assets to acquire Watson, then doubled down with a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
Watson is 9-10 as the starter over his three seasons in Cleveland, which has been defined by subpar play and injuries. He’s expected to miss most, if not all, of next season after re-injuring his Achilles during recovery.
Watson seems to have run out of time in Cleveland. Co-owner Jimmy Haslam called the trade a “swing and miss” at the NFL’s annual meeting earlier this month.
“We took a big swing-and-miss with Deshaun,” Haslam said. “We thought we had the quarterback; we didn’t. And we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him, so we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole.”
The Browns finished last season 3-14 and hold the No. 2 overall pick in the draft later this month in Green Bay.
J.R. DeGroote covers the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Lakers for Heavy.com. He graduated from Arizona State and has decades of experience in digital media with previous stops at SBNation and Bleacher Report. He has won multiple state, regional and national honors for sports reporting and photography. More about J.R. DeGroote
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