The 2014 Senior Bowl weigh-ins occurred the morning of the first practice on Monday. With it came instant judgements on players based their height, weight, hand size and etc. One of the biggest takeaways from the weigh-in however was just how short the majority of the quarterbacks were.
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Only one of the seven quarterbacks in attendance measured in more than a quarter of an inch over 6'2", and just three quarterbacks total hit the 6'2" mark. That mark is the general standard threshold for NFL quarterbacks and anything under that is viewed to be a "physical flaw".
Now, there are certainly examples of shorter quarterbacks having success at the NFL level such as Drew Brees and more recently Russell Wilson, but there have only been a handful of successful ones in the past 30 years.
Does quarterback height really matter, though? Is this some faux standard that scouts use, or is it actually a "thing"?
The answer is both yes and no.
There are a long list of unsuccessful quarterbacks who didn't meet that 6'2" threshold, but they were not necessarily unsuccessful because of their height. The ones who are unsuccessful because of their height are more so unsuccessful because they struggle to find throwing lanes and change their throwing platform.
That's where players like Brees and Wilson are successful more than the others who failed. Their issue isn't that they can't see over the line or have passes batted at the line of scrimmage, they compensate for that. They're adept at reseting, throwing on the run and throwing the ball accurately from multiple arm angles.
If you're worried about a quarterback's height, watch for those things on the film before just writing them off. Those things, for any height, are important to the success of any quarterback, but especially the "short" ones.