Kenny Pickett’s hand size was a hot-button topic ahead of the 2022 NFL Draft. Fortunately for Pickett, it did not prevent him from being the first quarterback selected in the draft. The former Pitt Panther and reigning ACC Player of the Year will stay in Pittsburgh after he was selected by the Steelers with the 20th overall pick.
With a width of 8.5 inches, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ No. 20 overall pick will have the smallest hands of any active quarterback in the league.
So will that present a problem for the Steelers going forward? On Wednesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stopped by the Rich Eisen Show and was asked about any concerns he had about Pickett’s hands.
“I was potentially capable of buying into that if I didn’t watch him play college football in Pittsburgh and deal with the elements that comes with playing in this environment,” said Tomlin.
“So, you can get into the ‘hand size’ thing, or you can just look at how he performed in a variety of conditions. And we have those conditions here in Pittsburgh. So, there’s very little speculation from our perspective about how he might handle the ball in inclement weather, wet days, etc. They [University of Pittsburgh] played North Carolina here on a Thursday night. I actually went to the game and it was raining pretty good that night. Had no issues. And so, it was probably less of an issue for us [the Steelers organization] as it was just in terms of some of the draft chatter.”
GM Kevin Colbert spoke with Pro Football Talk and said watching Kenny play for Pitt told them everything they needed to know and all the measurement charter was overblown.
“Honestly, I never paid attention to that,” Colbert said. “We look at the results. We watch Kenny play in our environment. . . . Can he throw the football? Absolutely. Did he have an excessive fumble rate? No, he didn’t. We just judge it on how he played.”
Pickett will compete with Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph for the Steelers’ starting job this offseason.
