Brandon Allen of Arkansas in action at the Senior Bowl. He's conscious of his small hands.
Brandon Allen of Arkansas in action at the Senior Bowl. He's conscious of his small hands. (Brynn Anderson / AP)

A theme that has emerged at this year's combine is hand size, and that's where we begin today's morning-after blog of leftover items at the NFL Scouting Combine.

1. They say a man's hand size gives an idea of, ahem, his ability to grip and throw a football. The larger the hand, the better the ability. And much has been made of it this week, especially after Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen admitted he used special massage therapy to increase his hand size and, the thinking is, his NFL Draft stock.


New Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson then gave the theme some steam when he said hand size is important to him when evaluating quarterbacks.

"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. "I think guys that have big hands can grip the ball better in those environmental situations, and so we'll look for a guy that fits what we're looking for in a quarterback. And is hand size important? Yes it is."

2. Chip Kelly is talking out of both sides of his mouth again.

No, the former Eagles and current San Francisco 49ers coach didn't make himself available to all the media at the Combine, as is his norm. But he did hold court for about an hour here with the 49ers beat writers, and one quote sticks out above all.

In talking about quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has reportedly requested a trade, Kelly said he definitely wants to keep and work with him because of what Kaepernick has already accomplished, leading the team to a brink of a Super Bowl championship.

"Kap's really good," Kelly said. "He had the ball on the 5-yard line, taking the team in to win the Super Bowl. You can just look at the tape and know how talented he is. Our job is acquiring talent, not getting rid of talent."

Is any commentary even necessary here?

We think not.

3. Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson, who used to be part of the Eagles' personnel staff, had strong words for players who show up at the Combine and then decline to take part in certain testing without a valid excuse.

"If there's a good, valid reason for it, then of course. You're not going to say a guy's soft because he's not doing this or that," Grigson said. "But if a guy just flat-out crosses his arms and says 'I'm not doing it,' that's where it's going to turn you off. You want a guy to compete in this arena. You want the cream to rise to the top.

"Someone on my staff asked me, one of the young guys, what I'll be looking for at this event. It probably wasn't what he was expecting. One of them was I want to see guys compete. A lot of times in the vertical and all those events, people say `I don't know if that's really going to equate to football.' I like seeing guys get in there and get personal bests and do freakish things. That's something that sticks with you. You have all these great athletes here and every once in a while, rare rises up through that cream."

4. Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien, who was instrumental in keeping Penn State's program afloat in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, was as clear as he could be when asked about his team's draft plans.

Because owner Bob McNair has gone on record saying he strongly suggests his team draft a quarterback, O'Brien is not about to bite the hand that feeds him.

"I always go by the mantra of whatever the owner says, we basically do whatever the owner tells us to do," O'Brien said. "Mr. McNair, look he's a great owner, he wants a winner in Houston, he's expressed that to me in various ways, not just at that position but in a lot of different ways, how we can build this team, both [general manager] Rick [Smith] and I.


"And that's what we're trying to do. To me, whatever Mr. McNair says, we try to go by that."

5. Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones is trying to make the best out of a troubling situation.

Had he entered the draft immediately after leading the Buckeyes to the national championship following the 2014 season, he might have been a first-round pick.

Now, after staying for another season and eventually losing his starting job, his stock has slipped to the point where he's looking like a third-day pick who would go no earlier than the fourth round.

"To me, it was a disappointment for the personal goals and things I wanted to accomplish. But everything that happened was for the betterment of the team," he said. "My goals that I wanted to accomplish as the quarterback of the team, they don't outweigh the team's success."