Commanders fans weigh in on concern over Kenny Pickett’s hand size

Not many NFL teams can say the same, but the Washington Commanders are in contention to nab a quarterback in the first round this year.

Entering the 2022 Combine, reports indicated Kenny Pickett had a leg up on Malik Willis and the remaining pool of prospects. After the first night of action at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, though, it might be the other way around.

But let’s not compare the projected top two QBs in this year’s class just yet. Yes, Willis might have a slight edge, but the pre-draft process is far from over. There’s plenty of time for Pickett to remind scouts and teams that he’s QB1.

So, what’s the fuss about? On Thursday, the 2022 quarterback prospects got their hands measured and Pickett didn’t come out looking good … so much so that his official measurement of 8.5 inches is historically small.

As you could imagine, this caused quite the stir on Twitter, and with Pickett a potential Commanders draft target, we wanted to know if the fan base’s feelings about the Pittsburgh product changed at all.

What better way to do that to run up a poll?

Potential Commanders draft target Kenny Pickett has historically small hands.

Leave it to Washington fans to be torn on a quarterback, right? In all seriousness, the fan base seems split in terms of whether it has second thoughts about the team drafting Pickett with the No. 11 overall pick, which is fair.

Like most QB debates, there’s two sides to every argument.

On one hand, you could say Pickett’s overcome this obstacle throughout his entire playing career thus far. Why would it stop now? Yes, the NFL is a different beast, but surely this won’t be as big of a deficiency as some think, right?

That’s the thing. We don’t know. While it won’t change his ability as a pocket passer, it could exacerbate his fumbling issues. He fumbled a whopping 39 times at Pitt and a number of quarterbacks with small hands (looking at you Jared Goff) have struggled with ball security at the next level as a result.

According to Pro Football Focus, Goff, Joe Burrow, Ryann Tannehill and Drew Lock are the only gunslingers with nine-inch hands to have 100 or more dropbacks over the last three seasons. That’s it. Just four QBs.

Pickett’s 8.5 measurement places him in the zero percentile among QBs since hand size started getting measured in 1999. Even more concerning? Among the shortlist of QBs with under nine-inch hands, none of them wound up having an NFL career. Folks, you might not have even heard of some of these names.

DoKevin Davidson, Dustin Vaughan or Jordan Lynch ring a bell?

Yikes.

We’re not gonna sit here and proclaim the Commanders shouldn’t draft Picket because of his abnormally small hands, but the front office wouldn’t be doing its job if it didn’t at least consider this in its evaluation of him.

Keep in mind Pickett did hand exercises leading up to the Combine to get an accurate measurement in Indianapolis, too. You have to think he’ll be forced to wear gloves on his hands at regardless of weather conditions and the NFL’s ball size, albeit marginally, is bigger than it is in college.

At the end of the day, it’s up to Washington to determine whether Pickett, who seemingly checks every other box, is worthy of the No. 11 overall pick. If they’re as split as Commanders fans are, they have serious homework to do.