Apart from a shoulder injury that may or may not be an issue and off-field issues that may or may not be on his shoulders, quarterback Jameis Winston has two potential red flags: His hands are small and his legs lack explosion.
As to the latter point, Winston managed a mere 28.5 inches in the vertical leap at the Scouting Combine on Saturday. As noted by Mike Mayock during the NFLN broadcast, that’s 2.5 inches below the average for quarterbacks from a year ago. And it’s a whopping 7.5 inches below the 36-inch skyrocket from Marcus Mariota.
Unless and until football incorporates the concept of the jump ball, it really doesn’t matter. But in the overall assessment of athleticism that the Combine provides, Winston is lacking when it comes to the ability to lift his body into the air.
He’s also possibly lacking in the ability to grip a properly-inflated football. Earlier in the week, Winston’s hands were measured to be a mere nine and 3/8th inches.
ESPN.com contends that only two of 61 starting quarterbacks since 2006 have had hands that size or smaller: Colin Kaepernick and Teddy Bridgewater. But the ESPN.com numbers may not be accurate. According to a Rotoworld.com item from April 2014, Mike Vick’s hand measures only 8.5 inches. Tony Romo also is under nine inches, at 8.86. The same article says Aaron Rodgers has a 9.38-inch hand, which is only a hair about 9.375, the decimal equivalent of 9-3/8th inches.
So plenty of quarterbacks have hands that are 9.375 inches or smaller. Still, Winston’s hands are considerably smaller than those possessed by otherwise short quarterbacks. Drew Brees and Russell Wilson both have a 10.25-inch finger span.
