Thumbs Up: Pitt Coach Narduzzi Backs QB Kenny Pickett

It’s NFL Combine season, which means you’ll find more tape measures on college campuses than inside of a Lowe's. And as far as Pittsburgh "Chris Bickell ’97 Head Football Coach" Pat Narduzzi is concerned, those tape measures are useless, unless they have a way of measuring a player’s heart.

"It's a complete joke, measuring this, measuring that," Narduzzi told ESPN’s Andrea Adelson.

Narduzzi’s take on measurements was prompted by suggestions that former Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett's hands are too small for the pro level. For context, Pickett is competing in the Reese’s Senior Bowl this week and declined to have his hands measured. He’s opting instead to have an official measurement taken at next month’s combine, citing a desire for more time to stretch out his double-jointed thumbs to increase his numbers.

Seriously.

Media members feel as though he’s just buying time before disclosing his small hands.

If it were up to Narduzzi, his former quarterback wouldn't let them measure his hand size. Ever.

"If they want to measure anything, what they should do is do open heart surgery, go check and see how big that chest cavity is and how big the heart is inside that chest, if you really want to analyze,” Narduzzi said.

Pickett’s now former coach further backed the signal caller when he dismissed all concerns about measurements.

"There's nobody out there who's going to play harder and put everything he's got into it than Kenny Pickett. This kid doesn't have a flaw. That's what (scouts) do. It's the same thing at the combine, they're going to find something else to pick on him,” Narduzzi told ESPN.

Even if Pickett's hands don't measure up, he’s still widely expected to be among the first two quarterbacks selected in April’s draft.

His hands are "not going to be a factor," Narduzzi insists.

After all the hand and thumb talk, both Pickett and Narduzzi probably want to give these scouts the finger.

 

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