Steelers' Kenny Pickett reveals why teams wouldn't draft him

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett has revealed his hand size caused some franchises to look elsewhere during the 2022 NFL Draft. 

"There's teams that were like, 'if you're not at nine, you just get off the board,'" Pickett said about his pre-draft hand measurements during an appearance on the "Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger" podcast, per Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot. "And those teams were high. I'm obviously going to do everything I can [to get drafted as early as possible]."

Pickett produced a hand measurement of 8 1/2 inches at the scouting combine but then measured at 8 5/8 inches at the Pittsburgh Panthers' pro day. The 24-year-old recently noted that he spent time sleeping in a splint in an attempt to stretch his hand out before the draft. 

"If a team comes to you and they're high on the draft [board], you want to go as high as possible," Pickett continued. "You're like, 'it is what it is. I got to try and do what I can to get there.' I'll do whatever it takes. So that's what I was doing to try to get where I wanted to go."

Pickett ultimately became the only quarterback chosen in the first round of the 2022 draft when the Steelers spent overall pick No. 20 to grab him. Per ESPN stats, he finished this past regular season tied for 19th among qualified signal-callers with a 51.5 adjusted QBR and with seven touchdown passes and nine interceptions in 13 games. He posted a 7-5 record as a starter. 

"It’s an analytics tool, developed long before analytics became widely used in sports," Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio wrote about teams using hand measurements to possibly disqualify a quarterback such as Pickett. "The thinking is that deviation from those basic minimums introduces a level of risk to the process that, over time, will result in more failures than successes." 

Pickett will now be looking to prove unidentified clubs wrong for passing on him last year.