Jared Goff's hand size was highly scrutinized last month at the NFL Scouting Combine when the Cal quarterback's mitt measured just nine inches, a full inch smaller than that of North Dakota State's Carson Wentz, and especially after Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson explained why the measurement matters to him.
As of Friday, however, it's less of an issue by one-eighth of an inch.
Goff's hand measured 9 1/8 inches at Cal's pro day on Friday, just a bit bigger than it did roughly three weeks ago at the combine. Did he simply do a better job of spreading his fingers for the measurement, which extends from thumb tip to the tip of the pinky finger? Or did he instead take a tip from Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen, who somehow increased his hand measurement three-eighths of an inch, through massage therapy, in the month between the Reese's Senior Bowl and the combine?
None of the above.
"I haven't done anything with it," Goff said on NFL Network's Path to the Draft. "I don't think it grew. I think the way they measured it was probably wrong."
When a Jacksonville Jaguars rep took the measurement Friday on NFL Network, Goff cracked a wry grin.
"Nine is kind of that magic number. You hit nine and you really don't worry too much about it," said NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah during NFL Network's coverage of Cal's pro day on Friday. "You get in the eights, and some teams, cold-weather teams specifically, will have that discussion. But I don't worry about that with Jared Goff."
Jackson's remarks at the combine dealt specifically with the AFC North.
"It matters because we play in a division where all of a sudden there's rain, there's snow and it's different," Jackson said at the combine. "I think guys that have big hands can grip the ball better in those environmental situations."
Cleveland holds the No. 2 overall pick of the draft, and needs a quarterback as much or more than any team in the league. It's hard to imagine hand size being the deciding factor for any team in judging one quarterback against another, but for Jackson, it's at least a consideration.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
