New Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett has famously small hands, but the Steelers say the game tape matters more than the measuring tape.
Outgoing Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert said on #PFTPM that Pickett was “the most prepared coming out” of the quarterbacks in this year’s draft, and that any concerns about his hand size are negated by simply watching how he handled the ball in games.
“Honestly, I never paid attention to that,” Colbert said. “We look at the results. We watch Kenny play in our environment. . . . Can he throw the football? Absolutely. Did he have an excessive fumble rate? No, he didn’t. We just judge it on how he played.”
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin made similar comments to Rich Eisen today.
“I potentially was capable of buying into that if I didn’t watch him play college football in Pittsburgh and deal with the elements that come with playing in this environment,” Tomlin said. “So you can buy into the hand size thing or you can just look at how he performed in a variety of conditions, and we have those conditions in Pittsburgh. So there was very little speculation from our perspective about how he might handle the ball in inclement weather, wet days, etc. They played North Carolina on a Thursday night, I went to the game, it was raining pretty good that night and he had no issues.”
The Steelers say Pickett will compete with Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph for the starting job in camp, while seventh-round pick Chris Oladokun will compete for a roster spot but likely not for the starting job. Whether Pickett wins the competition or not will be decided on something other than measuring his hands.