Ah, every NFL Draft season we witness a new debate on some ridiculous topic. One year, it’s QB’s hand size. Another year, it’s WR’s 40-yard dash time. The scouts and Twitter GMs lose their minds over these details and measurements, often ignoring what truly matters – the performance of the player on the field. And this year’s moot point? Will Campbell’s arm length.

No matter how good of a player you are, you may have elite pass-blocking efficiency, with only one sack every 398.25 snaps and one pressure every 32.5 snaps. But who cares!? What matters the most to the evaluators is whether you have 33-inch-long arms.

But the former NFL lineman, Ross Tucker, isn’t buying this criteria. He is giving a much-needed reality check to the entire league. “It’s embarrassing,” Tucker said on the Ross Tucker Podcast. And absolutely true, because are we debating whether a player’s success depends on the arm’s length? “Longer arms are better than shorter arms, just like stronger is better than weaker, and faster is better than slower. But this arbitrary cutoff is absolutely ridiculous,” Tucker added. Well, isn’t what he said quite obvious?

But where is this “33-inch rule” coming from? It has never been an official rule but more like an arbitrary benchmark that has become an unchallenged gospel over time. Still, the NFL teams believe that longer arms mean advantages in pass protection. But then do they not see examples where offensive tackles with shorter-than-ideal arms have thrived in the NFL by compensating with superior technique, footwork, strength, and football IQ.

Joe Thomas, who was below the so-called ideal length, became a 10-time Pro Bowler, six-time First-Team All-Pro, and one of the greatest left tackles in league history. The Hall of Famer had arms measuring just 32 1/2 inches, yet he dominated the league for over a decade.

If this is not enough to realise that this debate is utter nonsense, read what Emory Hunt and Tucker discussed: Campbell being ahead of Texas’ Cameron Williams and Boston College’s Ozzy Trapilo. Trapilo, who is 6-foot-8-inch, could scare a normal-sized person just by that, plus he brings rare athleticism to the position. And Williams, who is a technical master, locks defenders out of plays like it’s a walk in the park. Despite all these strengths that they have, still, neither brings what Campbell has shown against SEC defenders for years.

Will Campbell calls out the NFL nonsense

Campbell’s point of view matches that of Tucker. He isn’t buying this nonsense either. His arm length measured 32 5/8 inches at the Combine. And his pro day results – miraculously showed a slightly longer 33 inches. Does this now make him a better player? Come on, of course not. “For two years, nobody had any measurements on me and nobody said anything about my play,” Campbell admitted. “So now, all of a sudden, an arm length decides if I’m a good player or not? I think it’s B.S.”

He’s got a point, though. Campbell has been a dominant force at LSU, anchoring the Tigers‘ offensive line since his freshman year. He’s a Consensus All-American, a two-time First-Team All-SEC selection, and winner of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy. But sure, let’s obsess over an eighth of an inch instead of, you know, his actual tape.

Tucker and football analyst Emory Hunt broke it down in the Ross Tucker Podcast, comparing Campbell’s so-called ‘short arms’ to Mike Tyson’s reach in boxing. Did Tyson ever struggle because his arms weren’t as long as Lennox Lewis’? No. He just knocked people into next week. And his legacy speaks for itself. He is the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history at just 20 years old.

So, did anyone question whether his arms were long enough to deliver a knockout? NO, he just proved it in the ring by knocking out Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds. And then won 37 consecutive fights to start his career and held the undisputed heavyweight title for over two years.

The same logic applies to Campbell. His technique, strength, and football IQ make the minor arm-length discrepancy meaningless and almost like a joke. Hunt also understood how funny this debate is and said if you think Campbell should play guard because of his arms, “stand TEN TOES on it—don’t let Duke Manyweather and his crew bully you.” But in his eyes, Campbell is a pure left tackle and one of the best in this draft class. “He plays like a tackle, has always played left tackle, and knows how to win battles in the trenches,” he argued.

Look, the NFL loves its measurements. Height, weight, hand size—if they could, they’d measure a guy’s eyelashes to see if they impact his field vision. But at the end of the day, football is about performance, not math equations. Campbell has dominated at every level, and a fraction of an inch isn’t going to change that.

So let’s all take a deep breath, stop treating this like a NASA space mission, and just watch the man play football. Because when Campbell starts bulldozing edge rushers in the NFL, no one will give a damn about his arm’s length.