A caveat in the hand size discussions


Pauline then went on to discuss Pickett’s hand size. While Pauline confirmed that Pickett will measure in with hands under the standard 9 inches, he revealed a previously unknown caveat in the hand size discussion that could change the way Pickett’s hands are viewed. Here’s what Pauline had to say:

“As far as his hands are concerned … you want your quarterback to have 9-inch hands,” Pauline said. “Now, I’ve been told time and time again by scouts, when Pickett’s hands were measured, they measured slightly over 8 inches — which would be a red flag.

“But there’s a caveat — there’s a curveball to this. I’ve verified this with a number of people. Kenny Pickett evidently has a double-jointed thumb on his throwing hand. Somebody said to me, ‘if you ever meet Pickett and he shakes your hand, the thumb seems all out of wack.’ That’s because it comes out sideways, and it doesn’t go straight up. And what that double-jointed thumb does, is it makes it easier for him to grip the football.

“I’ve talked to a couple of people that say ‘yeah, if his hands are under 9 inches,’ but the double-jointed thumb is working to his advantage — to basically grip the football. Some teams who really like Kenny Pickett may overlook the fact that his hands are under 9 inches if this double-jointed thumb is going to help him.

“Now what they’ll do, is they’ll put the ball in his hands, and they’ll try to beat it out of his hands to see if he can grip the football. But what I’m hearing is, this double-jointed thumb on Kenny Pickett’s throwing hand is actually working to his advantage and may offset the concerns about the small hand size.”