Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa measured in at 6-foot even and 217 pounds, Hand size: 9 7/8 inches
LSU QB Joe Burrow measured in at 6-3 1/2, 221 pounds, with only 9” hands.
By the way 9” hands are a concern. That’s below average size. Some NFL teams believe a QB needs 9.5” hands to be successful while others believe 9” is the bare minimum size.
Tallest QB at the NFL Combine: Justin Herbert, 6-6 1/4 tall, weighed 236lbs with 10” hands.
Shortest QB at the NFL Combine: Tua Tagovailoa, 6-0
Largest hand: Brian Lewerke, 10 5/8
Smallest hand: Kevin Davidson, 8 1/4
Context on Justin Herbert’s weigh-in:
Since 2000, the only QBs to measure 6-foot-6+ & under 230 pounds at the NFL Combine are Sean Mannion (Oregon State, 2015), Mike Glennon (NC State, 2013) and Tony Pike (Cincinnati, 2010). Mannion and Glennon had negative career rushing yards.
Jordon love is said to be the big winner. Read this for more info.
By the way on the hand size thing. Here’s a rather interesting article from last year. If you recall this was supposedly a big concern for Murray until he measured in.
Burrow 9 inch hands on a frame that is 6-3 1/2 220Lbs as an NFL QB are small…How big of deal is it ? I remember reading last year with Kyler Murray …How big of a deal it was that he measured in with 9 1/2 hands, that his hand size was a bigger concern than his height and when that measurement came in on Murray it put a lot of concern to rest.
If you can crush a weigh in …Herbert and Love crushed it …
Quarterback winners
Jordan Love, Utah State. Welcome to the combine, Mr. Love. No quarterback “won” the weigh-in more emphatically than the polarizing prospect from the Mountain West. His hands are gigantic and at nearly 6-4 and 224 pounds, he has a sturdy frame. The 80-inch wingspan doesn’t really translate to better on-field play at the quarterback spot, but is impressive nonetheless.
Justin Herbert, Oregon. We all knew Herbert was going to be one of the tallest quarterbacks in this class, but for him to weigh close to 240 pounds indicates he’s well-built. Also, those 10-inch hands are decently massive, as is his nearly 79-inch wingspan. The expectation was that Herbert would crush the weigh-in, and he did.
Quarterback losers
Joe Burrow, LSU. Don’t freak, Bengals fans. But Burrow with just nine-inch hands isn’t good for his draft stock. It shouldn’t really move the needle though. The threshold is typically right at nine inches, so technically, Burrow got to it. But compared to other top quarterbacks in this class, he has small hands.
Jake Fromm, Georgia. Fromm was undoubtedly the biggest loser of the quarterback weigh-in. Being close to 6-2 and 220 pounds is good. Hands under nine inches simply is not, particularly for a passer not known for his physical prowess.
How rare is it that they go round 1? In the last 30 years, NFL teams selected 77 quarterbacks in the first round. Only 6 were listed at shorter than 6-1.
In the NFL past being under 6’1” would have taken you out of round one conversation. For a long time the NFL wanted QB’s who were taller because the belief was they could see the field better, that taller QB’s would have fewer tipped balls and that they could see over the OL better.
Micheal Vick, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson proved this narrative to be false.
Recent selections Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray are all shorter than Tua. So it’s obviously not the concern it once was.