Cal's Jared Goff got salty with new obsession over his hand size

This hand-size business at the NFL scouting combine has gone next level.

It started relatively harmlessly, first with a report that Goff measured in with "tiny hands" and then followed up by Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson saying that (hand) size matters.

Now it's out of control. Media members were tweeting out pictures and measurements of their hands. Even Denver Broncos general manager John Elway was asked what his hand size was. It's 10 1/8 inches, for the record.

(Full disclosure: We asked Jackson the hand question that lit a match to this thing, so we'll own up to our role in this nonsense.)

Goff had his chance to respond to the talk about his hands, and he didn't waste time to try to put that to bed.

"I just heard about that yesterday," he said on Thursday. "I've been told I have pretty big hands my whole life. I heard I have small hands [on Wednesday], apparently. No, I've never had a problem with that or expect it to be a problem at all."

Ideal QB hand size is considered 10 inches or more. Anything below 9 is considered bad. The average is right around 9 1/2. The more hand a quarterback is blessed with, the working theory goes, the more ability he has to grip the ball — especially in bad/cold/wet weather.

Goff measured right at 9. North Dakota State's Carson Wentz and Memphis' Paxton Lynch were at 10. Those three quarterbacks will be in the derby to be the first at their position drafted. It would be a shock if hand size alone was the determining factors. But if the three are too close, could it come down to splitting hairs?

Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman told us Wednesday that his team has studied the metric and that it's not a direct correlation, which helped make the Vikings more comfortable spending a first-round pick on Teddy Bridgewater, he of 9 1/4-inch fame.

Cincinnati Bengals player personnel director Duke Tobin said there might even be a flaw with how NFL teams measure the hand. The league measures pinkie to thumb. But might the best measurement be from the bottom of the palm to the top of the middle finger?

We're through the looking glass here, folks.

"It’s amazing the change in hand size from one event to another," Tobin said. "The way it’s measured is a little odd. I might be alone in this ... If you can’t extend your thumb or pinkie you end up with a small hand but you might not have a small hand. It’s a little bit useless of a measurement.

"When you shake a guy's hand, you know whether he’s got a big hand or not. We don’t have minimums and maximums for guys. There’s been small-handed quarterbacks that have been successful enough. Certainly the bigger, the better. We play in the AFC North and you are going to encounter some bad weather and bad games and you are going to have to hold onto the football."

Here's where Goff scoffs. He fumbled 23 times in his career but got a bit salty when asked about the turnovers — and even if the small hands were not mentioned in that specific question, the assumption of whether there was a connection seemed convenient enough.

"I mean, I don’t know," Goff said. "I don’t even know how many fumbles I had in my career, but it was never really addressed as an issue while I was playing there. How many did I have this year?"

Four.

"Four? That’s pretty good," he said. "My freshman year we went 1-11, so it wasn’t going very well. Probably had a bunch that year. But I think I improved on that. if I had 23 total, had four this year ..."

Goff had a point. When evaluating quarterbacks, game tape is king. Intelligence and poise are massive. Other measurables are part of the picture. Statistical analysis can tell part of the story. From that end, Goff can hang his hat on his 2015 passing numbers: 4,719 yards, 43 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and, yes, those four fumbles on 529 pass attempts.

Wentz, who has developed a friendly rivalry with Goff while the two work out together in California before the draft, laughed off this hand chatter.

"Not really [a big deal]," he said. "I think it's something cool to talk about or whatever. Gives you guys [media] something fun to write about. But I think it's just another measurement that they do here just because."

Although little the NFL does is "just because," it's clear that this whole thing has — wait for it — gotten out of hand.