Before we move on to bigger and better things, I will throw out more stat chart in regards to Joe Burrow’s undersized hands. I don’t consider them to be much of an issue at all.
Just for the heck of it, I put together the all-time fumble numbers for all quarterbacks who’ve started at least 100 games since the merger in 1970. I figured it would be interesting to see if anything in regards to hand size bubbled to the service.
Dave Krieg is near the bottom; I consider him to be the poster child for small-handed quarterbacks. But otherwise, I don’t see much.
Of the top 5 on the chart (the guys who didn’t tend to fumble), two are definitely small guys – Fran Tarkenton (pictured) and Joe Theismann, and Ken Anderson and Joe Montana were also below average in physical stature.
And if you scroll around down near the bottom, you’ll find plenty of larger quarterbacks with large hands. Drew Bledsoe, for example.
If you had two otherwise identical quarterbacks, I would prefer one with larger hands, but I don’t consider this to be a big deal. I think it’s more about decision making, pocket awareness and developing the proper ball-handling mechanics.
FUMBLES PER GAME | |||
---|---|---|---|
Player | Start | Fum | Fum / G |
Fran Tarkenton | 120 | 32 | .27 |
Peyton Manning | 265 | 77 | .29 |
Ken Anderson | 172 | 52 | .30 |
Joe Montana | 164 | 53 | .32 |
Joe Theismann | 124 | 42 | .34 |
Andy Dalton | 133 | 46 | .35 |
Troy Aikman | 165 | 58 | .35 |
Bob Griese | 119 | 43 | .36 |
Matt Ryan | 189 | 72 | .38 |
Jim Hart | 149 | 57 | .38 |
Drew Brees | 274 | 106 | .39 |
Jim Everett | 153 | 64 | .42 |
Matt Hasselbeck | 160 | 67 | .42 |
Jim Plunkett | 144 | 62 | .43 |
Tom Brady | 283 | 122 | .43 |
Cam Newton | 124 | 55 | .44 |
Craig Morton | 126 | 56 | .44 |
Ken Stabler | 146 | 66 | .45 |
Carson Palmer | 181 | 82 | .45 |
Matthew Stafford | 149 | 68 | .46 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 216 | 99 | .46 |
Dan Marino | 240 | 110 | .46 |
Richard Todd | 108 | 50 | .46 |
Aaron Rodgers | 174 | 81 | .47 |
Alex Smith | 161 | 75 | .47 |
Roger Staubach | 113 | 53 | .47 |
Bernie Kosar | 108 | 51 | .47 |
Jim Kelly | 160 | 76 | .48 |
Steve Young | 143 | 68 | .48 |
Joe Ferguson | 171 | 82 | .48 |
Philip Rivers | 224 | 109 | .49 |
Steve Bartkowski | 127 | 62 | .49 |
Bobby Hebert | 100 | 50 | .50 |
Mark Brunell | 151 | 76 | .50 |
Ron Jaworski | 143 | 72 | .50 |
Jim Zorn | 106 | 54 | .51 |
Neil O'Donnell | 100 | 51 | .51 |
Tony Romo | 127 | 65 | .51 |
Brad Johnson | 125 | 64 | .51 |
Jeff Garcia | 116 | 60 | .52 |
Joe Flacco | 171 | 89 | .52 |
Archie Manning | 139 | 73 | .53 |
Trent Green | 113 | 60 | .53 |
Terry Bradshaw | 158 | 84 | .53 |
Eli Manning | 234 | 125 | .53 |
Tommy Kramer | 110 | 59 | .54 |
Vinny Testaverde | 214 | 116 | .54 |
Jake Plummer | 136 | 75 | .55 |
Brian Sipe | 112 | 62 | .55 |
Brett Favre | 298 | 166 | .56 |
Jim Harbaugh | 140 | 79 | .56 |
Jeff George | 124 | 70 | .56 |
Lynn Dickey | 111 | 64 | .58 |
Ryan Fitzpatrick | 139 | 81 | .58 |
Phil Simms | 159 | 93 | .58 |
Dan Pastorini | 117 | 69 | .59 |
Donovan McNabb | 161 | 95 | .59 |
Steve DeBerg | 140 | 83 | .59 |
John Elway | 231 | 137 | .59 |
Rich Gannon | 132 | 79 | .60 |
Steve Grogan | 135 | 81 | .60 |
Russell Wilson | 128 | 78 | .61 |
Dan Fouts | 171 | 106 | .62 |
Jay Cutler | 153 | 95 | .62 |
Neil Lomax | 101 | 63 | .62 |
Drew Bledsoe | 193 | 123 | .64 |
Chris Chandler | 152 | 98 | .64 |
Steve McNair | 153 | 99 | .65 |
Ken O'Brien | 110 | 72 | .65 |
Jeff Blake | 100 | 68 | .68 |
Boomer Esiason | 173 | 123 | .71 |
Trent Dilfer | 113 | 82 | .73 |
Kerry Collins | 180 | 139 | .77 |
Randall Cunningham | 135 | 105 | .78 |
Warren Moon | 203 | 161 | .79 |
Steve Beuerlein | 102 | 82 | .80 |
Michael Vick | 115 | 98 | .85 |
Dave Krieg | 175 | 153 | .87 |
Jon Kitna | 124 | 109 | .88 |
Kurt Warner | 116 | 102 | .88 |
Daunte Culpepper | 100 | 102 | 1.02 |
—Ian Allan