Steelers rookie QB Hodges wields impressive stats to fight an uphill battle

Can a rookie UDFA QB make a Steelers team that recently invested two mid-round draft picks on quarterbacks?

Steelers rookie QB Devlin Hodges was supposed to be a ‘camp arm’ when he came to Latrobe, i.e., an extra ‘arm’ to throw passes during drills, not a player anyone expected to make the team.

Apparently, no one explained this harsh fact of NFL-life to Hodges.

After seven days of camp, Hodges’ heady play and accurate arm impressed Mike Tomlin enough to earn the rookie three snaps in “Seven Shots,” a two-point conversion drill that opened daily scrimmages throughout camp. He threw an incompletion on a well-defended pass, a touchdown, and suffered a bad drop by a tight end standing wide open in the end zone.

Due to his solid play in Seven Shots and camp scrimmages, Hodges began getting snaps in “Two-Minute” drills at the close of practices.

According to training camp attendee Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot, the total passing stats  for backups QBs throughout camp (in scrimmages, Seven Shots, and Two-Minute drills) were as follows: (QB ratings were calculated via Pro-Football Reference.com)

• Josh Dobbs:            71/134 (53.0%)  680 yds 14 TDs 7 INTs QB rating 80.44
• Mason Rudolph:   92/150 (61.3%)  717 yds 19 TDs 7 INTs QB rating 93.25
• Devlin Hodges:        61/85 (71.8%)   646 yds   6 TDs 2 INTs QB rating 99.44

Before Hodges literally had to run for his life due to “look out” blocks in the last preseason game, his preseason passing rating of 112.5 per NFL.com was third highest of all rookie QBs. Despite this and the above numbers, some in the media dismissed his standout play because his successes supposedly came at the expense of “third- or fourth-team defenders soon to be cut,” i.e., non-NFL quality players.

To negate this factor and weigh “apples with apples,” the following bullets compare the camp performances of all three Steelers backups primarily against 1st or 2nd team defenders in the above-mentioned drills: Seven-Shots and the Two-Minute Drill.

Seven-Shots [two point conversion attempts from the 2-yard line]

• Dobbs   9/20     45%   9 TDs, 4 INTs,  QB rating 52.08
• Rudolf 17/24 70.8% 17 TDs, 1 INT,   QB rating 95.83
• Hodges  3/6       50%   3 TDs, 0 INTs, QB rating 95.83

Two-Minute Drill

• Dobbs   [2 chances]      5/7    67yds 1 TD 1 INT QB rating: 101.49
• Rudolf   [3 chances] 10/18 113yds                      QB rating:   74.54
• Hodges [2 chances] 10/10   84yds 1 FG             QB rating: 101.67

Seven-Shots & Two-Minute Stats Combined

• Dobbs   14/27 51.8%   85 yds 10 TDs, 5 INTs QB rating:    58.41
• Rudolf   27/42 64.2% 147 yds 17 TDs, 1 INT  QB rating:    99.9
• Hodges 13/16 81.2%   90 yds    3 TDs, 0 INTs QB rating: 129.69

Considering these stats were produced against NFL-quality defenders, for me, they shed new light on camp and preseason performances by rookie QB Devlin Hodges.

If I’m Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin, I definitely do not want any QB—especially a rookie in his first NFL camp—who can throw for a 129.7 passers rating against my starting defenders or their backups to play for another team, especially not for a rival.

Coach Tomlin can ensure this won’t happen by keeping Hodges on his team.