Every year, when the NFL Scouting Combine comes around, we have the seemingly ridiculous discussion about quarterback hand size. The measurement process seems absurd, and to many, the information is pointless. If a guy can throw the football, who cares how big his hands are?
In many ways, hand measurements seem antiquated and irrelevant, but they continue because they matter, and NFL teams want to know. That’s especially true for a player like Ty Simpson, who fumbled seven times in 2025.
Those seven fumbles weren’t the most among FBS or even Power 4 quarterbacks, but it was still alarmingly high, and the fact that he lost five of those fumbles fuels the narrative about his lack of ball control. The issues are apparent on film, but the question for QB-needy NFL decision-makers in Indianapolis this week is whether or not it can be fixed.
Ty Simpson’s hand measurement will loom large at the NFL Scouting Combine
Ball secruity can be learned, even at the NFL level. Simpson hasn’t played many live reps since leaving high school as a five-star recruit, making just 15 starts, all last season, and the fumbles could be a sign of inexperience. They may also, for a 6-foot-2 quarterback with a relatively slight frame, be a sign of small hands.
Nine inches tends to be the threshold that teams would prefer their quarterbacks to clear. Anything under nine inches tends to throw up a red flag. That’s not to say you can’t succeed in the NFL with hands smaller than nine inches, measured from the pinkie to the thumb, but it’s something to consider.
Kenny Pickett out of Pitt, who went to the Steelers No. 20 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, is the last first-round QB to have hands under that nine-inch threshold. Pickett, who served as a backup for the Las Vegas Raiders last season, is already on his third team and notably wears a glove on his throwing hand to aid his grip. Pickett’s hands measured at 8.5 inches at the 2022 combine.
It’s unlikely Simpson’s hands measure anywhere near as small as Pickett’s, but every fraction of an inch they fall below league average, if they do, it becomes incrementally more difficult to solve his fumbling issues. That wouldn’t necessarily wipe him off teams' draft boards in the first round, but bad-weather teams such as the Steelers, picking at No. 21 with uncertainty at the QB position, could look to steer clear.
The best fit for Simpson remains the Los Angeles Rams, which have two first-round picks this April. Playing half of his games in a climate-controlled venue with Sofi Stadium’s roof would be nearly as big an advantage as having Sean McVay in his ear.
There’s no certainty that Simpson will have a hand size issue, but if he does, it will confirm evaluators' worst fears about his lack of ball security last season, so all eyes will be on his measurements Saturday before his on-field workout at Lucas Oil Stadium.