Why Joe Burrow’s NFL Combine hand size isn’t a big deal

The NFL Scouting Combine hasn’t fully gotten into gear and we already have quite the story to begin the week. LSU’s national champion quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow is at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis to meet with NFL teams, as scouts will get their first chance to really work with Burrow after he declined to take part in the Senior Bowl.

This also means Burrow was officially measured for the first time, and one measurement became the huge story Monday. Burrow’s hands measured in at nine inches.

Typically, scouts want to see hands around 9.5 inches for quarterbacks. Hand size is usually the indicator, or at least what scouts tend to use, to determine how well a quarterback can grip the football. Certainly, the bigger the hand size, the better.

But it’s not exactly the end of the world that Burrow ended up with just nine-inch hands. Let’s face it, if he has nine-inch hands now, that means he had nine-inch hands when he was throwing 60 touchdowns last season for the Tigers. And everything else he was doing in 2019.

I just think it's funny how Joe Burrow has:

– a huge list of broken records and awards
– Heisman Trophy
– natty title on an undefeated season
– 5,671 yds, 60 TD and just 6 INT on his senior season
– changed perception of QB at #LSU

And you guys want to talk about his hand size.

— Crissy Froyd (@crissy_froyd) February 24, 2020

Draft season is always silly season. There always has to be something to talk about, especially during the Combine and Pro Days. Take Teddy Bridgewater, for example. He had a fantastic career at Louisville and started to look poised to be safely selected in the first round. Then his Pro Day came and, while it wasn’t the greatest performance, shouldn’t have been an indication of what he was as a quarterback.

Yet, there were some in the media that were ready to burn all of his game tape just because of a poor performance at his Pro Day. And whether or not NFL teams felt the same way, the end result was that Bridgewater ended up as the final pick of the first round, thanks to the Minnesota Vikings trading up to #32 to select him.

Injuries have obviously been the biggest reason for Bridgewater’s rocky start to his NFL career, but it seems safe to say he looks to be all the way back. Bridgewater had to step in after Drew Brees injured his thumb on this throwing hand in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, and the New Orleans Saints did not miss a beat with the former Louisville Cardinal under center.

The Saints went 5-0 in Bridgewater’s starts, and Bridgewater threw nine touchdowns to just two interceptions in those five games, though only one of those games saw him throw for over 300 yards. Nonetheless, Bridgewater has a chance to cash in this offseason as a free agent, even with all the names that are going to be on the open market.

Now, this isn’t to say Joe Burrow is going to fall all the way to #32, or even fall at all. He is still the favorite to be selected by the Cincinnati Bengals at #1. Of course, there’s also now rumors and speculation that we may see an Eli Manning-type situation with Burrow and that he may force his way out of Cincinnati. That remains to be seen.

What we do know is people have already taken Burrow’s hand size way out of proportion. There have been quarterbacks with hands on the smaller size that have been successful. One such quarterback just won the Super Bowl.

Patrick Mahomes had 9.25-inch hands at the 2017 Combine. That didn’t stop the Kansas City Chiefs from moving up 17 spots from #27 to #10 to select the Texas Tech quarterback. Three years later, Mahomes already has himself regular season and Super Bowl MVP titles, and the Chiefs are celebrating their first Super Bowl title in 50 years.

Other quarterbacks have also fared well in the NFL, despite smaller hand sizes.

5. About the hand measurement of #LSU’s Joe Burrow: 3 guys with 9-inch hands (or smaller) became quality starters – Michael Vick (8.5), Tony Romo (8.86) & Ryan Tannehill (9). Jury is out on Drew Lock (9). It may not matter with Burrow, but teams have it categorized for a reason.

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) February 24, 2020

(Note: Robinson also later added Rams quarterback Jared Goff to this list.)

Will Joe Burrow be as good as any of these quarterbacks? Who knows? The point is, there is precedence for good quarterbacks with not as big hands.