Major red flag emerges for Jalen Milroe at 2025 Senior Bowl despite positive on-field reviews
The NFL draft brings a difficult process that scrutinizes every piece of information that is available for evaluators. The 2025 class is no different, and the 2025 Senior Bowl practices give scouts the chance to see prospects playing football one more time before the Scouting Combine. Sometimes, there are more positives than others, but there […]
The NFL draft brings a difficult process that scrutinizes every piece of information that is available for evaluators. The 2025 class is no different, and the 2025 Senior Bowl practices give scouts the chance to see prospects playing football one more time before the Scouting Combine.
Sometimes, there are more positives than others, but there are always going to be unavoidable red flags. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is experiencing every bit of the process right now as he's in Mobile, Alabama. His check-ins before hitting the practice field raised eyebrows.
Milroe's height and weight weren't surprising, as he's a thickly-built athlete with decent enough size for a modern NFL quarterback. Being 6 feet tall and 1/2 inches is fine, and his 220-pound frame is great. But his 8 6/8" hands confirmed some suspicions about why Milroe has some specific issues.
Milroe has been credited with 16 fumbles for his career, and his struggles in a rainy bowl game against Michigan last December did nothing to help. Usually, nine inches of hands are the baseline teams want to see. Very few quarterbacks have been successful in the NFL with smaller hands, with Michael Vick standing out as the outlier.
Even then, Jared Goff, Colin Kaepernick, Joe Burrow, and Vick had to build their game around their hand size limitation. Most players with smaller hands struggle to keep hold of the ball through contact and generally lack velocity on their passes.
Obviously, that's not always the case, as Vick and Milroe have cannons for arms, and Kap didn't struggle with velocity. The reports coming in from the Senior Bowl confirm that Milroe has a strong arm, especially when he has the chance to get a grip on the ball after catching the snap.
There are instances where a quick catch-and-throw lacks that same velocity for Milroe. Having smaller hands can be the reason why.
Will it be a draft stock killer? Probably not, as Milroe is a naturally divisive player with clear strengths and weaknesses. However, it is a red flag that teams dealing with bad weather for at least a month a year must consider.
