NFL Exec on Bryce Young's Size: You're Saying QB Is 'The One Outlier in' NFL History

One NFL team executive remains skeptical Alabama star Bryce Young can overcome his size limitations and thrive at the next level.

"If you pick him, you are saying that he's the outlier in the history of the league," the exec said to ESPN's Pete Thamel. "Kyler Murray was that size, but a little sturdier built and ran low 4.4s. [Young is] an awesome player and awesome kid, but you are saying that the guy is the one outlier in the history of the league."

Young measured in at 5'10" and 204 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Thamel noted only two other quarterbacks under six feet (Murray in 2019 and Johnny Manziel in 2014) were first-round picks in the common draft era. In addition, Young is bound to be the lightest QB selected in the first round since at least 1999.

There's no question the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner will face some challenges related to his height. But the thing with citing precedent in the NFL is that the league has evolved dramatically over the years, especially at quarterback.

Perhaps it's worth asking how much of the concerns about Young reflect basic physics and how much the perception could be based on a sort of longstanding confirmation bias where coaches and scouts came to believe shorter QBs can't succeed.

It's a bit like how legendary executive Bill Polian once suggested Lamar Jackson might have to move to wide receiver because the general consensus about dual-threat quarterbacks.

"I was wrong, because I used the old, traditional quarterback standard with him, which is clearly why John Harbaugh and Ozzie Newsome were more prescient than I was," Polian said to USA Today's Jarrett Bell.

Calling Young "the outlier" also elides how other passers on the smaller side have thrived. There's the aforementioned Murray. Russell Wilson (5'11" and 215 pounds) isn't much bigger. Drew Brees is two inches taller but was only five pounds heavier when he played. Go back much further and Fran Tarkenton, Len Dawson and Sonny Jurgensen were all six feet or shorter.

If Young lives up to the hype in the NFL, then he could help to open the door a bit more for incoming quarterbacks who might have been written off because of their frame.