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Small-handed QB argument sounds foolish on its face


top dawg
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In light of talking about Kenny Pickett, I just had to get to the bottom of this small hand thing, and I felt it needed its own thread, and I think that it should be required reading for intelligent fans like we have in the Huddle...

Now, you can believe what you want to believe, but to me the whole premise just sounded like bullshit, which is why I looked it up in the first place. In my experience, small hands does not equate to hand strength or one's ability to grip a football. It just made no sense to me. That being said, I like to research things and give them their fair shake. I have not been able to find one credible thing that verifies that small hands makes for a deficient QB. 

Like I said, believe what you want, but if nothing else, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes should give you pause.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2020/story/_/id/28770715/why-nfl-combine-built-myth-qb-hand-size-measurement-mean-anything

Edited by top dawg
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Biggest thing that matters is if you can ball.  Can Pickett ball?  Who knows, he had a great year after looking mediocre for his college career.  His hand size shouldn’t be the reason we don’t draft him, Daniel Jones and our own lovely Darnold have bigger hands than Mahomes and fumble all the time.  
 

I don’t have much faith in the guy as a player and the hand size doesn’t help considering he imo he doesn’t have those elite QB abilities like Burrow and Mahomes.  Worth noting that Pickett’s hands would be tied for smallest in the draft if he was drafted last year 

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Aren't collage balls smaller than NFL balls? If they are the same sizes as they used to be it's a big difference.

As always, depends on the prospect. Smaller hands on a QB matters in context. Let's see how he rings up in the combine and see how he does with a real ball in drills. I remember Pickles being a great example of failing to make that transition with small hands. So yeah, it can matter. 

 

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54 minutes ago, top dawg said:

In light of talking about Kenny Pickett, I just had to get to the bottom of this small hand thing, and I felt it needed its own thread, and I think that it should be required reading for intelligent fans like we have in the Huddle...

Now, you can believe what you want to believe, but to me the whole premise just sounded like bullshit, which is why I looked it up in the first place. In my experience, small hands does not equate to hand strength or one's ability to grip a football. It just made no sense to me. That being said, I like to research things and give them their fair shake. I have not been able to find one credible thing that verifies that small hands makes for a deficient QB. 

Like I said, believe what you want, but if nothing else, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes should give you pause.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2020/story/_/id/28770715/why-nfl-combine-built-myth-qb-hand-size-measurement-mean-anything

form one of the pickett threads

With a few things (example mechanical) you exaggerate the situation. I come form a strength group of arm wrasslers. Big hand = wins. Its like how much force can you make with a huge set of pilers compared to a small set? Think of your hand like 5 pilers and think if opponent has a bigger hand.... DE train all day to knock the ball out, would a larger hand be able to have a better grip? Hes also known for wearing gloves, I wonder why??. I have 9.25 size hand and thats tiny for my size, I heard Kenny has one less than 9, which is very hard to over-come, but not impossible. 

There are excises one can do in even in a short time to add hand length/size.

All the focused hate on Rhule with each words he says, hes right about arm length. YES, yes its not end all be all. Just if ANYONE whats to test size/length/etc doesnt matter, bring your army of 4'11 short armed, tiny hands, 90 LB males/females to the battle field and I'll bring my 6'5 long armed, huge handed, 280 LBs men and we'll how many of you we can kick thought the field goals.

 

Now we wait for the rare-outliers quotes.....Why are there weight classes to those I ask??

Edited by Basbear
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1 minute ago, Basbear said:

for one of the pickett threads

With a few things (example mechanical) you exaggerate the situation. I come form a strength group of arm wrasslers. Big hand = wins. Its like how much force can you make with a huge set of pilers compared to a small set? Think of your hand like 5 pilers and think if opponent has a bigger hand.... DE train all day to knock the ball out, would a larger hand be able to have a better grip? Hes also known for wearing gloves, I wonder why??. I have 9.25 size hand and thats tiny for my size, I heard Kenny has one less than 9, which is very hard to over-come, but not impossible. 

There are excises one can do in even in a short time to add hand length/size.

All the focused hate on Rhule with each words he says, hes right about arm length. YES, yes its not end all be all. Just if ANYONE whats to test size/length/etc doesnt matter, bring your army of 4'11 short armed, tiny hands, 90 LB males/females to the battle field and I'll bring my 6'5 long armed, huge handed, 280 LBs men and we'll how many of you we can kick thought the field goals.

 

How we wait for the rare-outliers quotes.....Why are there weight classes to those I ask??

Funny example..

They glorify and write about David beating Goliath. And don't mention all the many other smaller Warriors he slaughtered in his life..lol

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8 minutes ago, WOW!! said:

Funny example..

They glorify and write about David beating Goliath. And don't mention all the many other smaller Warriors he slaughtered in his life..lol

But....BUT....but......one time in the last 5,000 years balah ablah blah balh. Odds are NOT in your favor, thats why theres profiles. Being a panther fan we got two that hit the outliers; smitty and mills. The heart of a lion is hard to measure... 

For funnzies- Quick fill out a starting OL with players under 6' and below 300 LBs.........That question is for ALL those who say arm length, hand size, weight, etc etc doesnt matter. It does you dig-bats....

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So back in my heyday I used to play a little QB...but take this with a grain of salt as I never playt anything more than swmi-pro purely for fun. I always had a cannon for an arm and could throw an official NFL "The Duke" football 75 yards all day long until I turned about 28....then wow does life come at you fast.

Anyway, I have 9" hands and I'm 6'2". By NFL standards those are on the smaller side. I can tell you I had incredible grip strength (granted I wrestled and had forearms like Popeye). The only time I felt like I had a disadvantage with my hand size was when the ball was wet, but just barely and not soaked. Once the ball gets wet, the wax that has been used to condition the leather slightly starts to release and the ball gets slick. Thise actually made a huge difference in my confidence to grip the ball tight and still put some zip on it. Once the ball gets soaked, it actually can start feeling a bit tacky. I hated wearing gloves and never would as I would lose the feel/touch of the football.

Anyway...take whatever value this might add from my experience in my glory days.

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13 minutes ago, X-Clown on 1 said:

So back in my heyday I used to play a little QB...but take this with a grain of salt as I never playt anything more than swmi-pro purely for fun. I always had a cannon for an arm and could throw an official NFL "The Duke" football 75 yards all day long until I turned about 28....then wow does life come at you fast.

Anyway, I have 9" hands and I'm 6'2". By NFL standards those are on the smaller side. I can tell you I had incredible grip strength (granted I wrestled and had forearms like Popeye). The only time I felt like I had a disadvantage with my hand size was when the ball was wet, but just barely and not soaked. Once the ball gets wet, the wax that has been used to condition the leather slightly starts to release and the ball gets slick. Thise actually made a huge difference in my confidence to grip the ball tight and still put some zip on it. Once the ball gets soaked, it actually can start feeling a bit tacky. I hated wearing gloves and never would as I would lose the feel/touch of the football.

Anyway...take whatever value this might add from my experience in my glory days.

I could "palm" a basketball with my 9.25 mitts.....But it was mainly due to years of grip training, most with 10+ mitts and no training can "palm" a BBall.  Same gos if you threw it at the person for the first time. Again numbers matter, but if people want to live in outlier world hoping they find another 1 out of 693,704......goodluck with that, Im trying to improve the win conditions not search for lotto tickets. Strange times...

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