Kenny Pickett reveals why he wears gloves while playing quarterback

The subject was gloves. And for Kenny Pickett, it wasn’t about football fashion. Rather, he explained the thought process behind wearing a glove on each hand.

This is the kind of stuff that clutters the mind of an NFL quarterback. Pickett likes the grip the gloves give him when he’s throwing the ball. He might even prefer the gloves the receivers wear. Plus, he had a big stat game the first time he did the double-glove look while he still was playing for the Pitt Panthers.

Kenny Pickett and former NFL star Chris Long went in depth on gloves and hand size during the most recent episode of the Green Light podcast.

Kenny Pickett is heading into his second training camp as a Pittsburgh Steelers. He has the experience of last year when he started a dozen games as a rookie. And now he knows that hand size might be a silly stat.

The Steelers selected Pickett with the 20th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. And leading into the draft, analysts were fascinated with talking about Pickett’s hand size (or lack thereof). Pickett told Long that he eventually accepted the discussion as a good sign.

“All they talk about is first rounders,” Pickett said of the NFL draft analysts. … Me and dad always joked around, (saying) ‘you know what, I’ll be in a pretty good spot if they’re talking about my hand size.’ “

And that discussion of hand size ultimately morphed into one about gloves. No matter the weather, Steeler fans will see Pickett wearing a glove on each hand. They’re color coordinated to watch the road or home uniforms. Long asked if there were any minuses to wearing them. Pickett said yes, people have told him you can over grip the ball while wearing gloves. But that hasn’t happened to him.

“When I have the gloves, I like grip and spin it. It comes out nice,” Pickett told Long.

NFL quarterbacks, as a group, don’t use gloves. But there are some. The most notables are former Steeler great Ben Roethlisberger and Peyton Manning. Plus, Teddy Bridgewater preferred them. Long said they needed to swat away the gloves stigma.

And that’s when Kenny Pickett talked about why he started using them. He used them when he was a sophomore in a game against North Carolina. Pickett threw for 359 yards, with a 74-yard touchdown pass. He also rushed for a pair of touchdowns to lead the Panthers to the 34-27 victory.

“I had a pretty good game,” Pickett said. “Coach told me let’s do it for another week. I ended up loving it and playing well. Just felt more comfortable with it.” That coach was George Whipple. He used to coach quarterbacks with the Steelers, back when Roethlisberger was wearing black and gold.

Now, the weather doesn’t even matter. You’ll see Kenny Pickett, in heat and cold, tossing the ball while wearing gloves. Whatever works, right?