Pitt’s Kenny Pickett was measured Thursday in a historical NFL Combine quarterback measurement, revealing Pickett to have some of the smallest hands for a quarterback prospect in combine history.
Analysts had a field day with this new development, Thursday. ESPN said Taysom Hill is the only current NFL QB to have hands measured at less than 9 inches.
Bold statements were unashamedly made that a QB with hands as small as Pickett’s (8.5 inches) are rarely successful in the NFL. Michael Vick was even named as the last successful NFL QB with that small of hands.
Readers may recall that two years ago Joe Burrow’s hands were measured only nine inches. Burrow joked about it publicly, choosing to put it out there and that he was going to be different. Indeed he started in this year’s Super Bowl and had a successful second NFL season for the Cincinnati Bengals.
CBS Sports was very direct in its concern over the hand size of Pickett, “Of the 663 QB prospects who’ve had their hands measured since 1987, according to NFL analyst Warren Sharp, only nine had smaller hands than Pickett. Not a single QB with hands smaller than 8.5 inches has entered the NFL in the last five years.”
Just this week Mel Kiper Jr projected Pickett to be the first quarterback off of the draft board on April 28, taken by the Washington Commanders at No. 11. The very next day, NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks agreed Pickett is going to be the first quarterback drafted, but he feels, Pickett will go even earlier, No. 6 to the Carolina Panthers.
Not to be overlooked is the fact that Pickett, also has a double-jointed thumb on his right/passing hand. With these staggering numbers regarding NFL quarterbacks’ hand size, it will be revealing to see how (or if) NFL mock drafts change regarding Pickett over the next seven weeks leading up to the draft.