Part 2, OL: Can this 'long-armed Tyrannosaurus Rex' brawl?
Part 2, OL: Can this 'long-armed Tyrannosaurus Rex' brawl?
Bob McGinn's series continues with an examination of the offensive line. NFL scouts dissect the class in full. Does hand size matter in the trenches? Olu Fashanu will be quite the case study.
This is the 40th year that Bob McGinn has written his NFL Draft Series. Previously, it appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (1985-’91), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (1992-’17), BobMcGinn Football (2018-’19), The Athletic (2020-’21) and GoLongTD.com (2022-’24). Until 2014, many personnel people were quoted by name. The series reluctantly adopted an all-anonymous format in 2015 at the request of most scouts.
By Bob McGinn
Penn State’s Olu Fashanu is the outlier of all outliers when it comes to offensive linemen in the NFL draft.
“Those are girls’ hands,” a longtime personnel man exclaimed last month when told that Fashanu’s hands were measured at 8 ½ inches during the NFL combine.
Recovering from his shock, the scout pondered what hands that small would mean for someone playing left tackle in pro football.
“You place your hands; you play with your arms,” he said. “If you put your arms inside on the guy’s chest, what difference does it make if your hands are 8 ½ or 10? It’s an inch and a half. People get excited about those things.”
That scout was one of nine personnel people who brushed aside concern about Fashanu’s mitts. Of the eight other scouts queried on the matter, six expressed at least some degree of concern and two said they weren’t sure.
The actions of one NFC personnel director mirrored my own upon learning of Fashanu’s 8 ½ hands. We both researched just how unusual were 8 ½ hands for a man standing 6-6, weighing 312 and with an arm length of 34 inches.
“I went through it,” the scout said. “It’s one of the first things I looked at when I saw 8 ½. When you like the player you check all the measurables.”
What he found, I found. Here were the findings.
Scouts across the NFL break down all of the top offensive linemen below for Go Long paid subscribers.
Part 1, WR/TE: Hall of Fame talent at the top, then (many) questions