The No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Joe Burrow, contemplated retiring from football before he had ever played a down in the league. The reason? His hands are too small.

As humorous and ridiculous as it may sound, the NFL measures the hands of all its prospective quarterbacks. The thinking goes like this – the bigger a quarterback prospect’s hands; the better (for a number of reasons most related to ball control).

The problem with that thinking is simple. It’s a myth.

Measuring Hands

On the day of arrival at the annual NFL Combine, quarterbacks are put through a series of physical tests, some of those involving measurements. Height and weight are recorded and, for quarterbacks, a measurement of the throwing hand is taken.

Each year, the National Football League conducts its annual draft with teams selecting 250-plus players who each have the dream of becoming a star. Unfortunately, most of those players will never achieve any amount of success.

Some players enter the draft with extremely high expectations. Those drafted in Round 1 are supposed to be the best of the best. Sadly, several have been among the biggest draft busts of all-time.

1998 No. 2 QB Ryan Leaf

Leaf or Manning? It was the question that the Indianapolis Colts dealt with prior to the 1998 NFL draft. The Colts, of course, went with Peyton Manning which was a good choice considering Leaf is probably the biggest draft bust of all-time.

Drafting players for an NFL team has never been an exact science. Coaches and personnel staffs pore over mounds of data, conduct interviews, and watch hours of film in an attempt to determine which athletes they should add to their rosters.

Despite their best efforts, some of the picks never pan out. That may happen with the 2020 NFL draft. Time will tell, but there are a few players that could potentially become draft busts.

Jalen Reagor

Fans in Philadelphia are still trying to catch their breath after hearing their team’s first-round draft pick – TCU’s Reagor. At TCU, Reagor had a 1,000-yard season as a junior in 2018, but last year his production fell way off as he caught just 43 passes for 611 yards and five touchdowns. Plus, he ran a rather average 4.47-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.

The NFL wrapped up its annual draft with three full days, seven rounds, and 255 picks of football-lover’s paradise. And, the league did it all virtually.

With Commissioner Roger Goodell calling out picks from his basement, the NFL stuck to its schedule and held the 2020 draft during a public health crisis. In doing so, the league set a new TV ratings record for Round 1. The league was a definite winner this year. Here’s who else prospered at the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Cincinnati Bengals

With the first overall pick in the draft, the Bengals got the face of the franchise for the next decade – quarterback Joe Burrow. The Heisman Trophy winner is a likely Day 1 starter and he’ll have plenty of weapons.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians has a few favorite sayings. One is “no risk it, no biscuit.” The Bucs have apparently taken Arians’ words to heart.

Former New England All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski was lured out of retirement and acquired by Tampa Bay via trade. The Bucs sent a measly fourth-round draft pick to the Patriots for the rights to Gronkowski, arguably one of the best to every play his position.

Remember, this is after Arians and the Bucs went out and acquired QB Tom Brady in free agency. Brady and Gronkowski, of course, have a long history from their time in New England.

The NFL’s annual draft gives teams an opportunity to meet some immediate needs as well as build a roster for the future. Plenty of teams have used the draft to their benefit. The Chiefs, for example, traded up to draft Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes in 2017. That one worked out for Kansas City.

For every pick that goes as planned, there are many others that do not. Some picks are puzzling and others just don’t seem to make sense. Here’s a look at those picks and the losers of the 2020 NFL draft.

The 2020 NFL Draft is in the books and, as was projected, LSU’s Joe Burrow was the first overall pick going to the Cincinnati Bengals. Fellow quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert were projected to go in the first round and did to Miami and the Los Angeles Chargers, respectively.

As is usually the case with the NFL draft, there were some surprises. Here’s a look at the most surprising selections from the 2020 NFL draft.

Seattle Takes Brooks

It was a big surprise when Seattle elected to hold onto its first-round pick. The Seahawks have traded out of the first round in four of the past seven drafts. It was an even bigger surprise when head coach Pete Carroll and the Seahawks brass decided to take Texas Tech LB Jordyn Brooks.

NFL teams work trades all the time in an attempt to put together a roster that can lead to the ultimate goal – a Super Bowl victory. Not all NFL trades work out for the best. Some are simply disastrous. This article reviews some of the more disastrous trades in NFL history.

Ricky Williams to New Orleans

In 1999, New Orleans Saints head coach Mike Ditka mortgaged the team’s future for the rights to draft RB Ricky Williams at No. 5 Ditka traded all of the Saints drafts picks, including first- and third-round picks the following year, for Williams.

Cam Newton and Jameis Winston have a lot in common. Both were Heisman Trophy-winning college quarterbacks. Both were the No. 1 selection in their respective NFL draft.

Now in 2020, both are without a job.

The Carolina Panthers have tired of Newton’s injuries and antics and went out and signed Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63 million contract. The Panthers weren’t offering Bridgewater $21 million a year to be a backup.

The same thing happened in Tampa Bay, Winston’s old home, where the Buccaneers went out and got Tom Brady. On top of Brady’s signing, the Bucs also re-signed Blaine Gabbert, a former first-round pick, to be Brady’s backup.

While most of the sports world remains on lockdown, one event will take place as scheduled – the 2020 NFL Draft. League commissioner Roger Goodell agreed to hold the draft in Paradise, Nevada, as originally planned on April 23 and continuing through April 25.

The league did cancel all public activities associated with the draft, which means prospects will not get to ride the boat to the main stage in front of the Bellagio’s fountain. The final plans on how the league will conduct the draft have not yet been released, but it will go on.