Pitt's Pat Narduzzi Calls Browns HC for Kenny Pickett

Stefanski also praised Pickett for his worth ethic, acknowledged that they had good impressions of him when he came out of Pitt and is excited to see what he can do in his young career going forward.

"Kenny's a really an interesting, young player, and I say young," Stefanski said. "He played two years with the Steelers, had one year with Philly, they win the Super Bowl. So he's just in year four.

"We, and as you can imagine, the entire league, you do work on players when they're coming out. Whether you take them or not, you always think back to the conversations you had with them when they were coming out and Kenny was a player we liked.

"Did a lot of work on him, talked to the coaches. A very athletic player. A guy who's had success, has won football games. There's a lot to like about Kenny and he's young in his career. We feel like, whether we're talking about the rookies earlier or a guy Kenny, we feel like he has room to grow and he works his tail off. He's got the right attitude."

Pickett starred in the 2021 season for Pitt, as he completed 334-of-497 passes, 67.2%, for 4,319 yards and 42 touchdowns to seven interceptions, as he led the Panthers to their first 10-win regular season in more than 40 years and their first ACC Championship. His passing yards and passing touchdowns are program records for a season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers took Pickett with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, but he had two difficult seasons, going 14-10 overall and completing 446-of-713 passes, 62.6%, for 4,744 yards and 13 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.

They traded him to the Eagles, where he would win Super Bowl LIX, coming in late in the game, closing it out, as he took the knee in victory formation in the 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.