Kenny Pickett Reveals He Slept With Splint To Make His Tiny Hands Bigger For NFL Draft

Kenny Pickett has small hands. There is no other way to frame it. Pickett's hands are not large.

Kenny Pickett does not have big hands. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)

At this time just one year ago, the former Pitt quarterback was awaiting his NFL destination and there was no telling where he was going to land. Some analysts saw Pickett going No. 1 overall, others saw him going in the third or fourth round.

Last year's quarterback class was all over the place and completely open-ended. He ultimately ended up staying in Pittsburgh after being picked No. 20 overall by the Steelers, but not without a lot of speculation and smoke.

There was a lot of chatter around Pickett's hands during the pre-NFL Draft process. No position gets more scrutiny than the quarterbacks and hand size is always the funniest point of discussion.

The general idea is that a quarterback with tiny hands can't hold onto the ball as well or that he can't get as much torque on his spiral. Some teams find it extremely important, the Steelers obviously did not.

Pickett first refused to have his hands measured at the Senior Bowl. And then he measured-in at 8.5 inches at the NFL Combine, which only led to an increase in the outside noise.

A few months later, though, Pickett's hands measured at 8.625 inches at his Pro Day. His hands were bigger at his Pro Day than the NFL Combine and the Panthers had to see for themselves.

So how did that happen? How did Pickett add an eighth of an inch to his hands in a matter of just a few weeks?

He recently revealed the secret during an appearance on The Pivot podcast with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor. Pickett was doing everything that he could.

I stretched them out a little bit. I was doing some exercises
I was trying everything I could. I was sleeping in a splint to stretch my hand out. I'll do whatever it takes.

Although measurements will always vary from place to place, it seems as though Pickett's hand-stretching efforts were a success. His hands were just a little bit bigger at his Pro Day, he had his name called in the first round, and he was starting in the NFL by the end of his rookie year.