A quarterback’s hand size matters to the NFL

Favre’s hands were measured by the NFL years ago (from thumb tip to pinkie tip) at 10 3 8 inches.

At the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., last month, Allen’s hands were measured at 8 1/2 inches — the smallest of all the QBs there.

“It’s obviously something I can’t control,” Allen said, before adding that as part of his draft training process, the masseuse who helps the athletes with recovery has also been working twice a week on stretching out the QB’s hands “to maybe get another 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch here or there because the muscles in my hands were really tight and this can loosen them up.

Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott, who played in the same division as Allen and had some of the biggest hands at the Senior Bowl at 9 7/8, fumbled nine times and lost four in 2015.\

Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas, who has some of the biggest hands for a QB that NFL personnel people have measured in years — 10 7/8 inches — fumbled nine times in his final college season, losing three of them.

That triggered even more focus on Bridgewater’s hands, which were measured at 9 1/4 inches, the smallest of any of the top QB prospects who were coming out for the draft that year.

At the time ESPN researched that since 2008 there had been 39 quarterbacks who had been measured with a hand size of 9 1/4 or smaller; less than one-fifth of them had even gone on to start half a season in the NFL and none had made a Pro Bowl.

In those two games, Bridgewater was a combined 30-for-46 (65.2 percent) with three TDs and no interceptions while the two opposing QBs, Cam Newton and Eli Manning, were a combined 33 for 64 (51.5 percent) with a TD and four INTs.

Savage said Allen’s hand size is “problematic for the teams that play in (cold weather) conditions,” Savage said.

Allen, the son of a former Arkansas defensive coordinator Bobby Allen, who has been on the Razorbacks coaching staff for almost two decades, shrugs his shoulders at this hand size talk.