Panthers Nearly Went For Kenny Pickett Year Before Drafting Bryce Young

The Carolina Panthers have a new backup quarterback: Kenny Pickett. The former first-round pick who's bounced around the NFL since the 2022 draft has a new home behind Bryce Young.

Presumably, this spells the end for Andy Dalton. The Panthers wanted to get younger, more athletic, and more mobile at the QB position behind Young, and so they signed Pickett to a one-year deal worth up to $7.5 million.

Interestingly enough, years ago, Pickett was nearly a Panther. In fact, he was nearly the next attempt in a long line of attempts to replace Cam Newton that eventually led to Bryce Young.

Kenny Pickett was almost a Panthers' draft pick in 2022

Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett is announced as the twentieth overall pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Carolina Panthers traded up for Bryce Young in the 2023 NFL draft. There's a world where they'd taken Kenny Pickett the year before, and someone else, probably the Chicago Bears, picked Bryce Young. The ripple effect here would be incredible.

Joe Person of The Athletic reported this, "The Carolina Panthers presumably have their new backup for Bryce Young — and it’s a player the former staff scouted when the organization was searching for a quarterback before drafting Young."

He added, "The 27-year-old Pickett was a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022, when former Panthers coach Matt Rhule and then-GM Scott Fitterer evaluated him before the draft."

The Panthers picked Ikem Ekwonu in the first round, sixth overall that year. Obviously, Pickett was nowhere near that range. No one would've taken him in the top 10. However, the Panthers could've traded back.

They'd tried and failed with reclamation projects, which is what ultimately led them to trade up for Bryce Young. Pickett wouldn't have worked, but he would've prevented the Panthers from getting Young.

It's impossible to say who the Panthers would have now as their starting quarterback. If Pickett followed the same trajectory, the Panthers would've moved on after 2023, so they could've picked Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. (it's still unlikely they would've had a top-three pick to get Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, or Jayden Daniels).

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young on stage after he was drafted first overall by the Carolina Panthers | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Would they be better off? Probably not, although Michael Penix and Bo Nix might have been fine here with the draft picks and DJ Moore from the Young trade still available. But in terms of straight talent, the Panthers might've come out on the right side of this hypothetical.

And in an ironic, roundabout nature, Pickett is now the Panthers' backup. Somewhere, Matt Rhule is probably chuckling to himself.