Steelers rookie QB Devlin “Duck” Hodges wasn’t tall enough or talented enough to be drafted, nor was he good enough to be signed as a UDFA. He got a toe in the NFL door through a mini-camp tryout but hadn’t a prayer to make the team. No way, the ‘experts’ told us, not a chance.
On cut-down day, despite Hodges’ superlative camp and solid preseason, Mike Tomlin confirmed the expert’s assessments by having the Steelers release the Duck. End of story.
Except that it wasn’t.
A week into the season, the Steelers traded backup Josh Dobbs to the Jaguars and signed Hodges to the practice squad.
A week later, they lost Big Ben for the season and added Hodges to the roster.
Three weeks hence, the Ravens knocked Mason Rudolph from a game with a concussion.
Amazingly, the Steelers then found themselves being quarterbacked by a Duck in a crucial game against a fierce divisional rival.
Imagine that.
The following week, the Steelers with Hodges at the controls actually defeated a West Coast opponent on the West Coast, the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of NFL venues for Tomlin-led Steelers.
Tomlin now tells us that Rudolph is the starter going forward, and the ‘experts’ applaud his choice. After all, one scribe wrote, Hodges is “not the quarterback that’s going to help you catch up in the fourth quarter.”
I beg to differ.
Hodges brought his team from behind and put them ahead twice in the second half against the Ravens. On the strength of his arm, his savvy, and his composure, he had them on the brink of beating the Ravens in overtime had Juju not fumbled. Over their first six quarters of play, 2nd year QB Mason Rudolf’s QB rating per the NFL QB calculator was 82.5, whereas rookie Devlin Hodges’ is 91.2.
And yet, the Duck wasn’t good enough to be drafted and could ‘never’ make the team.
In other words, if I were Mason Rudolph, for the sake of my health and career, I’d beg Mike Tomlin and the ‘experts’ to please shut up regarding what Devlin “Duck” Hodges cannot do or cannot become as an NFL QB.
Whether it’s karmic justice or cause and effect, there appears to be a compelling synergy at play in the Duck’s football fate…a force that’s determined to reveal that the supposed experts aren’t all they’re quacked up to be.