First week round-up

August 14, 2022

First pre-season weekend round-up … Fans in Cleveland maybe can be forgiven if they hope that QB Deshaun Watson’s suspension ends up being more than 6 games after a rather dismal outing in the Browns’ pre-season opening win over Jacksonville. Watson was suspended for the first 6 games of the year by an arbitrator earlier this month, but could be out longer as the NFL, which reportedly wants a full-year ban, has appealed. Watson did start the Browns’ pre-season opener against Jacksonville, but completed just one of 5 passes for only 7 yards. While Watson and the Browns wait for word on the appeal, there are rumors around the league that the two parties may agree on a compromise solution which would see the suspension extended to 8 or even ten games with Watson also paying a big fine. The problem for the league is that while they are expected to win the appeal, after all they picked the adjudicator, Watson and the NFLPA can still appeal through the courts which could drag the whole process out through the season and beyond.

It is supposed to take rookie QBs a little time to get up to speed when they enter the NFL, but somebody forgot to tell Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett. Pickett, the only QB selected in this year’s opening round, completed 13 of 15 passes for 95 yards and two scores in the Steelers’ pre-season win over Seattle. The one caveat is that Pickett played most of his snaps against the Seattle scrubs as he is technically the Steelers #3 QB behind Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph. Indeed, it will be interesting to see if Pickett gets any more serious minutes in the Steelers final two pre-season games. For the most part, though, it was kind of a mixed bag for QBs selected at the 2022 draft. Read more