Eagles acquire former Steelers first-round pick Kenny Pickett in trade: Source

The Eagles have traded for former first-round quarterback Kenny Pickett, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.

So the Eagles have found their new backup quarterback behind Jalen Hurts. 

Pickett, 25, was taken by the Steelers with the No. 20 pick out of Pittsburgh in the 2022 draft and started 24 games in his first two NFL seasons. But the Steelers this offseason brought in veteran Russell Wilson, which made Pickett available.

So the Quarterback Factory went to work.

Here are the reported terms of the trade:

Steelers get: Pick No. 98 this year (3rd round), the Eagles highest two 2025 seventh-round picks

Eagles get: Pickett, No. 120 this year (4th round)

After the trade, here’s an updated look at the Eagles’ picks in next month’s draft:

Round 1-22
Round 2-50 (from Saints)
Round 2-53
Round 4-120 (from Steelers
Round 5-161 (from Buccaneers)
Round 5-171 (comp)
Round 5-172 (comp)
Round 6-211 (comp)

According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the acquisition of Wilson and Pickett’s reaction to that move led to the trade:

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The Steelers made the move because of the way Pickett was poorly handling the arrival of Russell Wilson, according to sources. That came on the heels of Pickett's behavior last season when he refused to dress as the emergency third quarterback in Seattle in Week 17. https://t.co/mirLR1UJFP

— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) March 15, 2024

The Eagles have gone the veteran route at backup quarterback every year under head coach Nick Sirianni. It started in 2021 with Joe Flacco and then Gardner Minshew. Minshew was the backup again in 2022. And then Marcus Mariota was the backup last season.

This offseason, Mariota joined the Commanders on a one-year deal so the Eagles had to find a new No. 2. The Eagles reportedly offered a contract to Flacco, which was a signal that the Eagles were looking for an experienced player at that No. 2 quarterback position.

That means that the QB depth chart in Philly looks like this in 2024: Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett, Tanner McKee

The Eagles used a sixth-round pick on McKee out of Stanford last season. There was a thought that perhaps the Eagles would roll the dice with him as a backup in his second season but the Eagles instead added Pickett. The Eagles, as much as any team in the NFL, value the backup quarterback position. They watched their backup win Super Bowl LII, after all.

The nice thing about adding Pickett now is that he still has two years left on his rookie contract. He has a base salary of $985,000 in 2024 and a base salary of $2,623,350 in 2025, according to OverTheCap. So the Eagles have a cost-controlled backup QB for the next two seasons. For reference, Mariota played on a one-year, $5 million contract in 2023.

And Pickett is a native of New Jersey and grew up as an Eagles fan. So he should be pretty excited to be wearing an Eagles jersey for the next couple seasons.

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Eagles new backup QB Kenny Pickett grew up in Ocean Township, New Jersey and was a big Eagles fan and he had said he idolized Donovan McNabb pic.twitter.com/nWgPOZLW30

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) March 15, 2024

In his NFL career, Pickett has competed 62.6 percent of his passes for 4,474 yards, with 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He has a 14-10 record in his 24 career starts.