Pitt pro day: Carolina Panthers look hard at Pickett, Mathis boosts stock

Pitt's pro day was highly attended with 31 of the NFL's 32 teams having representatives in attendance at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex Tuesday. Most of them were there to see Kenny Pickett's passing drills, but they all walked out seeing both Pickett and Damarri Mathis put on a show.

But only two NFL teams had head coaches in attendance. Those were the Steelers with Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and a number of scouts and coaches in attendance as usual for Pitt pro days, but also the Panthers' head coach Matt Rhule, general manager Scott Fitterer, and offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.

The ties between Rhule and Pickett are obvious, as Pickett initially gave a verbal commitment coming out of high school to play for Temple, where Rhule was head coach, before switching his commitment to Pitt. But what's continued to be a mystery is where Pickett might land in the NFL Draft come April.

That mystery might be a lot closer to being solved after seeing how strong the Panthers showed up to see Pickett throw at his pro day. The Panthers currently have the sixth overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, and have a need for a franchise quarterback with Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker as the only quarterbacks currently on the roster. That's also their only pick on the first two days of the NFL Draft, as their next pick is currently slated as the 137th pick, just ahead of the Steelers' spot at 138 as a compensatory pick in the fourth round.

"Yeah, a lot of familiarity with coach Rhule," Pickett said when asked about his history with Rhule. "It was great to see him again. I got to see him briefly at the combine and then again today. Hopefully I'll see him again down the road."

Rhule could be very much in the market for his franchise quarterback after his first two seasons as the Panthers' head coach only had five wins in each season, and him potentially being on the hot seat. And unless he trades back, he'll want to find a player who can best impact his roster with that sixth overall pick, and finding his quarterback for the future might be what he sees as his best bet.

After putting on a decent showing at the NFL Scouting Combine, Pickett chose not to run or do any of the workouts and drills outside of him throwing passes at Pitt's pro day. Pickett did have his hands measured again, which came out to be eight and 5/8 inches instead of the 8.5 inches recorded at the NFL Scouting Combine.

"You can't control that kind of thing," Pickett said of his critiques of his hand size. "I just enjoy the whole process. I grew up watching the combine on Saturdays and Sundays with my dad. It's all a dream to me to be here."

But when he threw the ball, Pickett showed the kind of accuracy that built his resume in 2021 to go from a decent Pitt quarterback to a record-setting quarterback in the ACC who finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Pickett threw to several targets he was familiar with from their time together at Pitt, both some who were also participating in Pitt's pro day like receivers Taysir Mack and Melquise Stovall and tight end Lucas Krull, and also Jordan Addison, the 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner who's set to play again for Pitt in 2022.

The majority of Pickett's deeper passes during his workout went to Addison, who caught 17 touchdowns from Pickett in 2021.

After talking with multiple NFL scouts in attendance, the consensus appeared to be that Pickett put on a "strong" performance with his throwing. That could only have helped his case with teams like the Panthers who might consider selecting him in the first round in next month's NFL Draft. A big concern for Pickett's ascension to the NFL has been his arm strength and whether or not he could fit deeper passes into NFL-sized tight passing windows.

"It actually got a little bit better," Stovall said of how much zip Pickett's put on his passes. "We had to fine tune, but he throws the ball pretty well. Obviously he's slung 60-yarders to us, so we know his hand size hasn't been a problem."

"Kenny's one of the hardest workers I ever met," Krull said. "Showing back up here to run routes with him again is great. Just look at the tape. People want to find something to knock him in the media, and you can't find it on film, so you have to talk about hand size while ignoring him throw 65-yard passes on the dot."

Tipton, who's spent the past seven years in Pitt football's program, said he saw this kind of potential when Pickett first joined the program back in 2017 and expressed pride in how much attention Pickett garnered for their pro day.

"I told you Kenny would be better than (Dan) Marino," Tipton said. "He did that. That kid is everything I expected him to be from the first day I met him. Everybody has trials and tribulations, but all he needed was a chance. When he learned to just believe in himself last year after his injury, you saw Kenny football and everybody fell in love with No. 8."

Pickett was more modest about the comparison to a Hall of Fame quarterback Marino, but did open up to his relationship with the Pitt legend.

"I don't know if I'm Dan Marino," Pickett said when asked about comparisons to the Hall of Fame quarterback. "He's a hell of a guy to follow, and he's a guy whose records I was chasing here at Pitt. He's a great role model to have and I've had a chance to talk with him a couple times. I look forward to getting to play golf with him soon. It's unbelievable to be in the same sentence as him. I'm just trying to work as I can to have a successful career like he did."

In addition to Marino, Pickett revealed he's been working out with Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins, and has had several talks with him about how to approach getting into the NFL with teams' quarterback situations constantly changing.

"I got a chance to talk with Dwayne last spring," Pickett said. "Throughout this process I've seen him throwing a couple times. I just take it day by day. It's a crazy process. Every day I wake up and there's some news about guys moving around and being traded. I'll be where I'm supposed to be in April."

Narduzzi also thought it benefited Pickett to be able to launch some of his deeper passes to Addison because of their chemistry, which allowed Pickett to put more zip on his deep passes and trust that his star receiver would run them down and catch them.

"I think he threw well," Narduzzi said of Pickett. "Kenny really wanted Jordan out here so they could connect on some of those deep balls. Jordan caught all of them. I don't know if he's throwing harder, but he's got his timing down. It takes lots of hard work."

Pickett also noted how he specifically worked on his arm strength going into the NFL Scouting Combine and Pitt's pro day.

"There are different ways to work arm strength," Pickett said. "Every offseason I work to take a leap forward. Whether that's strength, speed, agility, and it's about how hard I train. All that stuff tied into today and I was able to put the ball out there with some more velocity."

But Pickett wasn't the only Pitt player to impress scouts Monday, as Mathis put on a show with explosive numbers in his 43.5-inch vertical jump and his 11-foot-1 broad jump. He only ran the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, where he clocked in at 4.39 seconds, the eighth-best time of cornerbacks this year. Had he put up those numbers in both jumps, his vertical would've been the best of all combine participants, and his broad jump would've been the best of all cornerbacks.

Those numbers were very impressive for Mathis, but also something both he and Narduzzi expected.

"I wanted to jump higher than 43.5, but I'll take it," Mathis said of his vertical. "45 is my personal best. I'm happy about how today went. I showed my versatility in the DB drills and I tested well. I was always confident in my abilities."

Part of that confidence comes from the aggressive style of play that forces Pitt's cornerbacks to live on the wire with either making a big play in single coverage or giving up a big play and needing to bounce back on the next opportunity. That's helped build the confident swagger Mathis displays regularly, but also helped Pitt's cornerbacks develop a reputation that's helped a Pitt cornerback be selected in three of the last four NFL drafts.

After Mathis' pro day, it might be a lock that number will prove to four of five of the past drafts.

"It says a lot," Narduzzi said of Mathis' day. "Our defense is built around what our corners can do. I know some of you guys get frustrated with how much they press, but the NFL loves it. Damarri gave me a big hug and said this was why he came here. I watch a lot of guys in the NFL, like Dane Jackson, and how he performed in the playoffs. I've been texting him and I told him if you watch the tape, teams aren't throwing his way."

"You look at what Damarri did today, and you see he's impressive," Narduzzi continued. "He's going to be really good in the NFL and play for a long time because he's smart, tough, he'll hit you, and we trusted him as our boundary corner. He's tough, physical, he's got ball skills and he can jump out of the roof. He's also fast with that 4.39 time he ran in Indianapolis. He might be the most talented cornerback we've had come out of here in the past seven years."

That's pretty high praise from Narduzzi, considering he has five cornerbacks currently in the NFL with Jackson, Lafayette Pitts, Jason Pinnock, Avonte Maddox and K'Waun Williams. Mathis credited Pitt's system for helping make the transition to the NFL easier for the Panthers' cornerbacks.

"A lot of the same terminology we use at Pitt, they use in the NFL," Mathis. "People like our scheme and how we do things. I feel like it'll be a smooth transition. It's mano a mano, we have to make a play or get a play made on you. It's risky, but we like to take that risk. That translates to the league easily."

As for interest from any teams, the only one he named specifically was the Steelers, who were watching closely during his athletic drills. Mathis explained during his five years with Pitt football, he's had plenty of talks with Tomlin and other members of the organization.

"It's close, and I know it," Mathis said of what he would like about playing for the Steelers. "I've lived here for five years. They have a really aggressive defense and I feel like I'm an aggressive player. I've talked with (Tomlin) throughout my time here. He's always good, we'll see what happens."

Other Pitt players also put on decent showings, as Mack's return from his arm injury that sidelined him for the second half of the season allowed him to show his talents. He had an unofficial 4.47 time on the 40-yard dash, as well as a 10-foot-2 broad jump and a 4.33 time on the short shuttle drill. He also caught several passes from Pickett during the passing drills, which allowed scouts to get a look at him. 

"I've seen him turn into a man," Tipton said of Mack. "He definitely took on the role of being a captain, but it's hard to go  through an injury. Bouncing back from an injury isn't just a physical thing, it's also a mental thing. Seeing him go into the transition of realizing what he had to show. He showed up today just like he showed up this season. I'm very proud of him."

Former Pitt receivers coach Chris Beatty, who coached Mack at Pitt, currently works as the Chargers' receivers coach. Although he wasn't in attendance, the Chargers did have a scout watching Pitt's receivers during workouts, just as they had sent a scout to watch Pitt's receivers closely during an in-season practice back in October.

Krull also put up a solid unofficial 40-yard dash time of 4.54, which would've been the second-best time of tight ends at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2022, and his 35-inch vertical jump would've been the third best of that group. Krull only had one real season to show his skills at Pitt after transferring into the program in 2020 as he spent most of his first year injured. But his 38 catches for 451 yards and six touchdowns have helped him make a case to be considered by NFL scouts, even if he wasn't invited to the combine.

"Everybody said I had a really good day," Krull said. "I think people hadn't been really looking my way and I came here to prove myself. No disrespect to anybody, but I should have been (at the combine). I didn't get that opportunity and I had to come here and prove everyone wrong."

Other Pitt players who participated in the pro day were linebackers John Petrishen, Chase Pine and Phil Campbell, offensive lineman Keldrick Wilson, defensive lineman Keyshon Camp, punter Kirk Christodoulou and long snapper Cal Adomitis. 

Camp's unofficial 4.67 time in the 40-yard dash along with 27 bench press reps was very notable as a good showing for a defensive tackle who spent most of his time at Pitt dealing with injuries. He might've helped his case to be an undrafted free agent signing after the NFL Draft or get a camp invite in the summer.

Of the linebackers, Petrishen shined the brightest with a 38.5-inch vertical jump that would've been the seventh-best among linebackers at the NFL Scouting Combine, a 7.02-second time in the three-cone drill that would've been second-best among the linebacker class, and a 4.17-second time in the short shuttle which would've been the best of a short list of linebackers who did the drill at the combine.