INDIANAPOLIS -- The quarterbacks measured in this morning at the combine, and while much of the discussion has centered around height, there is another quarterback measurement that we keep an eye on.

As explained by former New England Patriots vice president of player personnel and current Atlanta Falcons assistant GM Scott Pioli, hand size is a notable measurement for quarterbacks, as larger hands help a quarterback grip the ball more firmly.

Pioli described a "bad decision" he contributed to during his time in New England by selecting former Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury back in 2003. Kingsbury had tremendous college production, but he also had the smallest hands among quarterbacks at the combine.

"We asked him to come to New England in inclement weather and try to throw the football and control the football; where you have someone like Tom Brady, who has an enormous hand," he recalled.

"You look at the pictures of Tommy holding a football, part of his accuracy is based on his hand size," he explained. "So things like that, in terms of measurements, they have value.”

Ryan Mallett, as it turns out, had the largest hands among the quarterbacks at the 2011 combine at 10 and 3/4 inches.

With Mallett entering the final year of his contract, this could be the offseason the Patriots add another arm to the pipeline.

Understanding how hand size can play into the quarterback evaluation, below is a sampling of some of the notable hand sizes among this year's combine quarterbacks.

Largest

Logan Thomas, Virginia Tech (10 7/8)

Smallest

Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois and Dustin Vaughan, West Texas A&M (8 7/8)

Others of note

Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M (9 7/8)

Blake Bortles, Central Florida (9 3/8)

Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville (9 1/4)

Tajh Boyd, Clemson (9 5/8)

Derek Carr, Fresno State (9 1/8)

AJ McCarron, Alabama (10)

Jimmy Garoppolo, Eastern Illinois (9 1/4)

Aaron Murray, Georgia (9 1/8)