Cal quarterback and likely first-round draft pick Jared Goff supposedly has tiny baby hands.
The 6-4, 215-pound quarterback is projected to be a first-round draft pick in the upcoming draft, but his puny paws could keep him from being selected earlier than expected. Despite the Cal product saying he’s “excited” about the possibility of playing for Cleveland, coach Hue Jackson, speaking at the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine, may not want Goff’s minuscule phalanges throwing footballs.
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“[Quarterback’s hand size] matters because we play in a division where all of a sudden there’s rain and snow, and it’s different,” Jackson said Wednesday at his combine press conference. “Guys with bigger hands can grip the ball better in those environmental situations. We’re looking for a guy who fits what we’re looking for at quarterback, and so hand size is important."
The Browns hold the No. 2 overall pick and are expected to select a quarterback, even if Jackson says the team is looking for the best overall player. So his comments about hand size are actually relevant, as silly as that might seem to some. Quarterback hand size is a topic that has been brought up a lot, and sometimes mocked.
But it’s a serious component of evaluating prospects. Tom Rossley, former Packers offensive coordinator, told Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman that the first thing they looked at when analyzing quarterbacks is hand size, “because of how Brett (Favre) was and how well he could play in cold weather.
“That’s such a key with handling the ball, controlling the ball, and with the snap coming out. The size of a quarterback’s hands is even more important than his height.”
We don’t know the measurements for Goff yet (expected later in the week) but his hand size has been criticized for a while now. There have been plenty of quarterbacks with small hands to go on and have success in the NFL, but a lot of them are mobile.
Here’s an analysis from Rotoworld’s Jonathan Bales:
Considering Goff isn’t much of a scrambler (although he does have good pocket mobility), his hand size could end up being a huge factor in where he’s drafted, depending on the team. At least one GM doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal saying, “A guy could have tiny Burger King hands, and we’ll track him — if he doesn’t fumble, who cares?”
The problem with that argument is that Goff does fumble. He had 23 fumbles while at Cal, which is a pretty big number. As Jackson pointed out, playing in tougher conditions than sunny California could end up causing problems in the turnover department.
Obviously there will be a team who takes Goff and accept his hands for what they are, but it will remain to be seen if he’ll end up falling in the draft as a result of his imperfection.
