Richard Sherman has expressed his doubts about Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett and his hands in the NFL.

Kenny Pickett was the first quarterback taken in the 2022 NFL Draft when the Pittsburgh Steelers took him at #20, very much the outlier of the group considering that the next quarterback off the board wasn’t until the Atlanta Falcons took Desmond Ridder at #74.

Whilst the quarterback class wasn’t particularly renowned in terms of quality, Pickett was arguably the best of a bad bunch following his final year at the University of Pittsburgh.

He was named a first-team All-American, finished 3rd in last year’s Heisman trophy standings, and put up over 4,300 yards whilst throwing for 42 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions, so at least in terms of stats, it made sense for the Steelers to take him to replace the retiring Ben Roethlisberger. 

Not so magic hands

One of the knocks that came out about Pickett during the draft process was the size of his hands with some saying that they might be too small to grip a football in the NFL, which is slightly bigger than ones used in college, and how it might impact someone playing in cold weather like Pittsburgh.

Pickett has for years worn gloves in order to help counteract these concerns and give him better grip, doing so even during his workouts for scouts ahead of the NFL draft.

Sherman the skeptic

Speaking after the draft, the Steelers claimed they weren’t concerned with his hand size at all. However Sherman, who was speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, appeared to have some doubts over Pickett and his use of gloves:

“I don't know. It’s hard for me to trust a quarterback who wears gloves all the time.”

Now there are some quarterbacks in the league who have worn gloves, most notably Peyton Manning late in his career after neck surgery affected the feeling in his fingers, so it’s not a totally new thing.

However, the proof will ultimately be in the pudding, and if Pickett can be serviceable in the NFL with his gloves, then all the power to him, whatever helps him to make plays and he feels comfortable with, he should just run with it.