Kenny Pickett says his time with the Eagles taught him ‘how it’s supposed to be done’
Pickett, a South Jersey native, appeared in seven games for the Eagles last season, including twice in the playoffs.
After an unforgettable Super Bowl journey with the Eagles, the team he grew up rooting for, Kenny Pickett finds himself in a new quarterback room with the Cleveland Browns. As the Ocean Township, N.J., native starts the next chapter of his career, he made sure to credit his time in Philly for preparing him for this moment.
“I’m extremely grateful for my time in Philly,” Pickett told reporters during Browns OTAs on Wednesday. “I think I was just shown how it’s supposed to be done, really, from the top down. So when you get a chance to see what it’s supposed to look like and how it should look on a day-to-day basis, not just on Sundays. You know, I think it’ll pay dividends for me in the future.”
Pickett was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 2022 draft and after starting for two seasons in Pittsburgh, where he also attended college at Pitt, he was eventually traded to the Eagles after two years, where he served as a backup to Jalen Hurts. During the Eagles’ Super Bowl run, he appeared in five regular season games, making one NFC East-clinching start against the Dallas Cowboys, while also playing in two playoff games, including the Super Bowl.
After the season, Pickett was traded to the Browns in exchange for Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick. Now, the 26-year-old quarterback will battle for the starting position in a busy four-man QB room in Cleveland that also includes Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel.
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Despite drafting two rookie quarterbacks in Sanders and Gabriel, Pickett isn’t letting any outside noise change how he’s preparing going into the season.
“I just always approached every day as if I’m the starter no matter where I was on the depth chart,” Pickett said. “So even when I was in Philly, I would prepare as if I was a starter, because you never know when that opportunity was going to be to go play. And you want to be as prepared as you can be. So I’m kind of having the same mindset that I’ve always had since college.”
In fact, Pickett said he will use his experience with the Eagles to help transition into his role in Cleveland.
“I think there’s more similarities to Philly’s system than people may realize just because they’re a little bit more under center than the gun,” Pickett said. “You know, Philly was more in the gun, but a lot of the concepts are the same and the teaching is the same. Just learning the new terminology has really been the big thing for me.”
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With the Browns kicking off their OTAs this week, it’s still pretty early in Pickett’s battle for starting position. However, he believes the outside world is making Cleveland’s quarterback situation bigger than what it is.
“When you’re day-to-day and you’re in meetings with these guys, you’re out of practice, you spend so much time together,” Pickett said. “Of course we’re all competing, but you become friends with everybody. You know, we’re helping each other. There’s open dialogue in the quarterback room to help each other grow. So I think it’s a great media headline, but when you get in the building, in a quarterback room, and at least all the ones that I’ve been in, you really become friends with these guys and we’re just pushing each other.”