With there now being less than two weeks to go before the Pittsburgh Steelers report to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for the start of their annual training camp, there hasn’t been much talk of late about the hand size of rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett. That changed on Thursday, however, as Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward was asked on his podcast if examined Pickett’s hands during OTAs and if they as small as he thought they would be.
“Okay, like, this is my locker partner now,” Heyward said. “Like, I talk a good game and I like to give people a hard time, but, you know, I won’t say like his hands were like, you know, really small or anything. Like he’s got average size hands and I didn’t think anything of it. He was able to throw the ball, still able to whip it around and he’s got the ball in his hands for a reason. He was able to do it in college.”
While Heyward admitted on Thursday to having fun with Pickett’s hand size not long after the Steelers drafted, he clarified that him doing so was all in fun and essentially just him hazing the University of Pittsburgh product.
“I think it got blown out proportion and then I just kind of ran with it,” Heyward said of the Pickett hand size story. “You know, why can’t I call my rookie quarterback ‘Burger King Hands’? He will be on the show later on and I will be giving him a hard time then, but, man, the dude can still play.”
As things stand right now, veteran Mitch Trubisky appears set to open the team’s training camp a few weeks from as the starter. On top of that and judging by what all transpired during the Steelers offseason practices, Pickett might just start his first NFL training camp as the team’s third string quarterback behind Trubisky and Mason Rudolph. Heyward politely pointed out on Thursday why Pickett has bigger fish to fry ahead of him once he arrives at Saint Vincent College
“But he’s got a battle for himself, and his hands are gonna be the least of his worries,” Heyward said. Because Mitch [Trubisky]and Mason [Rudolph] are gonna make it tough on him.”
The upcoming Heyward podcast that will include Pickett as a guest should be an excellent one and I’m sure the veteran will get the rookie to address the size of his hands once again. Pickett, by the way, now wears gloves and even during his offseason training sessions with his private quarterback coach Tony Racioppi.
