Every NFL fan should know this by now, but you can never underestimate the ridiculousness of the NFL Draft process, especially when it comes to quarterbacks.
The latest chapter of bizarre evaluation and scouting comes courtesy of former Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen.
Allen enjoyed a productive, if unspectacular career, in college and is hoping to land a professional gig in April’s draft.
However, the size of his hands could be holding his dreams back — they only measured 8 1/2 inches at the senior bowl, which is a problem since scouts view anything under 9 inches as a problem. The thinking being, the bigger the hands, the easier it is to hold on to and throw the football.
Well, Allen is not going to let a little genetics get in the way of his future career. The quarterback recently told Fox Sports he is seeing a masseuse to help stretch his fingers and increase his thumb-to-pinkie measurement.
“It’s obviously something I can’t control,” Allen said, before adding that as part of his draft training process, the masseuse who helps the athletes with recovery has also been working twice a week on stretching out the QB’s hands “to maybe get another 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch here or there because the muscles in my hands were really tight and this can loosen them up. I have long fingers.
“It’s worth a shot.”
The idea of small handed quarterbacks has made the rounds before, most notable in recent memory being Johnny Manziel’s massive mitts earning him positive marks over Teddy Bridgewater and his more diminutive hands. We all certainly saw how predictive that turned out to be.
I applaud Allen’s effort here, but I can’t help but wonder if he is overlooking the idea of wearing giant fake hands to his measurement instead. After all, it seemed to work for Uncle Jack.
