Pitt’s coach Pat Narduzzi says

At least one person isn’t worried about Kenny Pickett being able to hold onto football.

The former Pitt quarterback raised eyebrows as he refused to measure his hand at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. Pickett told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that he would wait until the NFL Combine measurement because he has a double articulated thumb. making it difficult to measure accurately.

NFL MOCK DRAFT: Where did Pickett land?

Pitt QB Kenny Pickett doesn’t measure his hand here in Mobile, but he has a good reason: He’s double-matched, so his thumb is naturally pointing in an odd direction and he’s doing it. Do additional exercises to get accurate measurements at the combined March . pic.twitter.com/KLMdraG9AC

– Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 31, 2022

There will be plenty of scouts wary of casting out a first-round pick at the 2022 NFL Draft on a quarterback with a smaller side hand. Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi dismissed the idea that hand size would prevent teams from picking a Heisman Trophy finalist, told ESPN’s Andrea Adelson questions about measurements are “a complete joke.”

“If they want to measure anything, what they should do is open-heart surgery, go and check how big that chest cavity is and how big the heart is inside that chest, if you are,” Narduzzi said. really want to analyze. “What are we talking about? No one out there is going to play harder and put everything he has into it than Kenny Pickett.

“This kid has no flaws. That’s the thing [scouts] do. It’s the same thing in combination, they will find something else to choose for him. It won’t be a factor. “

Pickett is just the latest in a long line of QBs who have faced questions about the size of their hands. Ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, Joe Burrow joked about his own hand size issue after measuring at nine inches.

“Considering retirement after I was told football would slip out of my little hands,” Burrow tweeted.

Consider retiring after I was told football would slip out of my little hands. Please keep me in your thoughts.

– Joey Burrow (@JoeyB) February 24, 2020

Pickett won’t be a slam-dunk No 1 pick like Burrow, but he is expected to be out of the table in the first round. He led the Panthers to an 11-2 record and a 2021 ACC championship last season before sitting out Pitt’s Peach Bowl loss to Michigan State. He threw 4,319 yards with 42 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.