Most NFL analysts and fans knew the Philadelphia Eagles wanted to acquire a veteran quarterback to back their franchise star, Jalen Hurts. Most didn’t think Kenny Pickett would be the player the team acquired, though.
In a third-for-fourth-round-pick swap, with a pair of future sevenths tacked on for good measure, the Eagles brought the former first-round quarterback in as the backup to Hurts while maintaining his roster control for another two seasons. In response, the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired former Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields shortly after.
As the dust settles on the trade that brought Pickett to Philly, the lone question remains:
Who won the trade?
Breaking Down the Kenny Pickett Trade
Before determining which team won a particular trade, we first need to go over the full parameters of the agreement.
Eagles Receive: Kenny Pickett, 2024 fourth-round (120th overall) pick
Steelers Receive: 2024 third-round (98th overall) pick, two 2025 seventh-round picks
The value of the fourth- and third-round selections changing hands is essentially the same for the two sides. The move gives Philadelphia a fourth-round pick while taking away its third. Pittsburgh on the other hand acquires its second third-round pick of the draft.
Pickett, entering his third season in the NFL, has two more years of team control before the organization must decide on his fifth-year option. He will carry a cap hit of just under $2 million in 2024 and $2.6 million in 2025. Those are relatively cheap numbers for a backup quarterback.
Now that the details are out of the way, let’s get into the official grades of the trade.
Eagles’ Grade
One of the big debates going through Philadelphia right now is if they should’ve spent a relatively high draft pick (98th overall) on a backup quarterback who has proven very little at the NFL level.
Pickett might be 14-10 as a starter, but his 62.6% career completion percentage and 13:13 touchdown-to-interception ratio were among the worst in football last season. Many analysts pointed out that the Steelers only had to give up a sixth-round pick (that could become a fourth if playing-time thresholds are met) for Fields, whom many consider a better overall quarterback than Pickett.
There are reasons why Pickett was determined to be the selection for the Eagles in this trade. First, with two years of team control, Philadelphia does not have to address the backup quarterback position for at least two more seasons. Based on that, and the overall price Pickett carries, the value of the former Pitt product would be higher than Fields’ due to his fifth-year option decision coming in a few weeks.
In the end, because Philadelphia has two second-round picks and three total in the top 64, the organization has plenty of flexibility to accumulate a ton of talent in a loaded draft class. Pickett as a backup for two seasons isn’t the end of the world, and he solves an offseason need.
The fact that the value of the two picks comes out to be relatively the same also doesn’t hurt, either.
Grade: B
Steelers’ Grade
While many people will think to call Pickett “soft” for his reported request to be moved, we cannot deny that head coach Mike Tomlin has some blame here.
Whether you believe the head coach went back on his word before Russell Wilson came in that a fair quarterback battle would take place, something changed Pickett’s mind about trying to fight for his starting job.
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With the Steelers seeing that and deciding to move on, getting a third-round pick is excellent value. The only true difference here that doesn’t leave this to be an excellent trade for the franchise is if something were to happen to Wilson and Fields hits his snaps-played mark, essentially losing another fourth-round pick anyway.
Ultimately the Steelers trading good value for a backup quarterback should be commended, but a team that values backup quarterbacks as much as the Eagles makes this move a necessary cost.
Grade: B+
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