College football programs are notoriously inaccurate at reporting their athletes’ heights and weights, with a plethora of reasons to do so. As a result, when the top prospects make their way to the NFL Draft each offseason, all eyes are on their appearances at pre-draft events where the top athletes will get their official NFL Draft measurements documented.
However, the formatting for these reported heights, hand size, wingspans, and more are not in a traditional format. What do these NFL Draft measurements mean?
Whether it’s at the East-West Shrine Bowl, the Senior Bowl, the NFL Scouting Combine, or team/player pro days, reported measurements often feel like they are being shared in a foreign language. While scout jargon can seem confusing at first, there are simple explanations for the odd format.
Length measurements (like height, arm length, and wingspan) are reported in a four-digit format that seems unfamiliar, however, there is a simple explanation.
When looking at the 2025 Senior Bowl measurements, Oregon Ducks star QB Dillon Gabriel had a height of “5104” — the first digit signifies how many feet, the second and third digits signify how many inches, and the fourth digit signifies any additional eights of an inch tall Gabriel measures. In Gabriel’s case, he measured in at 5’10 4/8″ (or 5’10 1/2″, for simplicity’s sake).
However, his wingspan (7168), arm length (3000), and hand size (L0900) are formatted slightly differently. The first two digits signify inches while the third signifies eighths of an inch. The fourth serves either as a placeholder to signify eighths (reading as “8”) or signify that it’s an even measurement (reading as “0”). In Gabriel’s case, he has a wingspan of 71 6/8″, an arm length of 30″, and a hand size of 9″.
Fortunately, the simplest measurement is weight. It is presented plainly as how many pounds the player weighs (202 pounds, for Gabriel).
What Does the ‘L’ in Hand-Size Measurements Mean?
While the hand size measurements follow the same rule as the wingspan and arm length, there was one more quirk that requires attention — why is there an L in his measurement?
Not every player has the added notation in their reported hand size (fellow Senior Bowl quarterback Jaxson Dart measured in at “0948”), so why is this signifier on Gabriel’s profile?
The “L” indicates that the measurements were taken from his left hand, as Gabriel is a left-handed quarterback. Conversely, the right-handed passer Dart had no such mark.
College Football Network has you covered with the latest from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and every Group of Five conference and FBS Independent program.
