Kenny Pickett’s Hands Are Perfectly Fine Okay
It’s NFL Combine time, which means it’s time for MEANINGLESS MEASUREMENT DISCOURSE!
There are plenty of good reasons Kenny Pickett isn’t an incredible top QB prospect in a year that seems quite weak at QB overall. I don’t feel like his hand size should be one of them. But last week, for pretty much a full day, Kenny Pickett having smaller than average QB hands became a discussion point. This is far from the first time this has happened. Joe Burrow got dinged for small hands two years ago. He just helped lead a team to the Super Bowl in his second season. He sure seems fine with his tiny hands.
I’ve always had an issue with this kind of judging prospects by measurements they can’t control crap. Arm length, hand size, that kind of thing. Sure, if you are a 5’3 shrimp who struggles to put on weight you probably don’t have much chance at an NFL career, but at the level these prospects are at, minor half-centimeter differences in hand size really just shouldn’t matter. Maybe his smaller than average hands make the theoretical chances of a forced fumble like, 3% higher, if that. That’s still not a very good reason to dock a prospect. A lot of factors go into whether or not a QB is prone to fumbling. I think protection and pocket awareness are much, much more important than being able to grip an extra centimeter of real estate on the ball designed to be grippable. How is Kenny Pickett under pressure? Does he have good ball control? That matters. Judge him for that, not his slightly smaller hands.
I know everyone wants prospects with the perfect toolset but it just doesn’t happen much nor does it necessarily mean anything. As stated in the comic, Daniel Jones has more than enough hand size and he coughs up the ball like he’s eating fried chicken between every snap. Hand size might be a minor thing that could have potential ripple effects on Pickett’s mechanics but any QB and coaching staff worth their salt can easily find ways to work with this. Since there are no real great QB prospects this year, it actually bodes well for Pickett because he might not get too over-drafted and go to a team that doesn’t suck, and have a chance to overcome his horrible disability.
Coincidentally, I am rooting for Kenny Pickett, because his fake slide was cool as shit.
At 11 Washington will use their “draft and destroy” strategy of recent years then blame it on his hand size when they inevitably fail him.
Stuff like this is just the result of there being literally nothing else to talk about around this time of year with the NFL. Same reason we have people overreacting to outdated drills that barely correlate with success in the pros, if at all.
As a current student at Pitt, I hope Kenny kicks ass despite his tiny hands that are suddenly an issue.
This might be the best written comic of the past year. And the alt text to boot. Congratulations Dave, you made me laugh out loud.
I’m pretty sure Qb hands are getting smaller every year
Also Dave can you please do more lateral comics in the offseason? I think it´s cool hearing your thoughts on pre-2011 stuff
That’s certainly the plan, should make the dull parts of the offseason easier
Faking the slide looked cool, but it’s weak sauce to exploit player safety rules. I’m glad they ruled that this sort of thing is a dead play going forward.
Also the combine continues to be funny. Tyler Linderbaum has arms about one inch shorter than average, better drop his draft value by a round, haha.
Totally agree. Fundamentally, it’s a balk. Is that ruling just for the ACC or is it more wide-spread?
Took Dave a while to make this comic cause he had to text all his ex-girlfriends to get those lines…..
I always thought it was length from heel to the tip of your middle finger. I found out last week that it was the full hand span, pinky to thumb. I don’t think of my hands as being particularly big, but it turns out they’re just over 10 inches by that measure, so 8.5 really is pretty small.
That seems like it’s more of an issue for receivers than anyone else though, because of the way catching mechanics work.
You might just have huge hands, my man, I read 8.5 is average for men and while QBs average 9 or above but that’s probably because QBs tend to be tall to begin with
I’m 6’3 and my hands are apparently 9.25 inches
Oddly, I have short fingers. Last time I got fitted for golf gloves I wore a cadet length, which means the circumference of your hand is bigger than the length from heel to tip.
Actually the flexibility of your hand is also a factor. It’s measured with the hand outstretched (but not forced) so if you’ve practiced getting spreading out your hand as far as it can go (for example, playing piano), your hand measurement will also go up
My fingers have always been long and flexible so im probably around what I measured as, if I force it I can get close to 9.5 and if I relax a bit im at 9
I’m 6’3″ and only have a bit over 8 inches. That said it’s mostly because I can’t really bend my thumb joint all that well, with proper trainers I could pull a Brandon Allen and add a half inch at least.
Lmao just like the real Alex Smith
By the way, that guy from Brown, Perry, looked pretty damn good. His numbers are similar to Kordell Stewart, Julian Edelman, and Antwaan Randle El, so if the QB thing doesn’t work out and he can catch, he might at least be able to convert to wideout.
Its okay. Personality matters more than size. Or so I’ve heard.
Is Dave projecting something?
Ryan Leaf had a field day comparing his measurements to Pickett’s and pointing out that his huge hands didn’t stop him from fumbling all the time in the NFL
I think the biggest hands in the league is Dak and OF COURSE Nick Foles
Dak still fumbles a lot and Nick Foles is an anomaly.
Not to mention Foles has had a weird career where he’s looked incredible at times but also generally looks pretty bad on average
Russell Wilson actually has the biggest hands in the NFL. Imagine that.
I think fretting over hand size is one of the dumbest parts of the combine. And I love it. Bring in all the baby hands jokes.
The reveal that the largest hands of any starter in the league is . . . Russell Wilson (!) demands that every illustration of Pocket Russ from here on out should have hands larger than he is.
10 1/4 BITCHES
When do you think the combine starts measuring the dick size?