There was a lot of talk about Kenny Pickett’s hand size leading up to the 2022 NFL Draft. Despite the discussion, he still became the first quarterback chosen in the draft. Pickett, who was the former Pitt Panther and the reigning ACC Player of the Year, will continue his career in Pittsburgh as the Steelers picked him 20th overall.
With a hand width of 8.5 inches, Pittsburgh Steelers’ 20th overall pick will have the smallest hands among active quarterbacks in the league.
Will this be a problem for the Steelers in the future? During an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about any concerns he had regarding Pickett’s hand size.
“I could have been concerned about that if I hadn’t seen him play college football in Pittsburgh and experienced the challenging playing conditions here,” said Tomlin. “You can focus on hand size or look at how he performed in different situations, including adverse weather conditions. We face those conditions in Pittsburgh. There’s not much doubt from our standpoint on how he might handle the ball in bad weather or wet days. When they played North Carolina here on a rainy Thursday night, I attended that game, and he performed well despite the rain. So, it wasn’t a big concern for us as it may have been in the draft discussions.”
General Manager Kevin Colbert told Pro Football Talk that observing Pickett play for Pitt provided them with all the necessary information and that the emphasis on measurements was exaggerated.
“Honestly, I never really paid attention to that,” Colbert stated. “We focus on outcomes. We watched Kenny play in our conditions. . . . Can he throw the football? Absolutely. Did he fumble excessively? No, he didn’t. We evaluate based on his actual performance.”
Pickett will be competing with Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph for the Steelers’ starting quarterback position during the upcoming offseason.
