Devlin Hodges made his first NFL regular-season appearance in the Steelers' 26-23 loss to the Ravens at Heinz Field on Sunday. He had an impressive showing at Saint Vincent College as the best fourth string quarterback I've seen invited to Steelers' training camp.
He followed that up with a good preseason, only to be cut from the team before the season began. But now he's back, and is set to make his first NFL start despite being an undrafted rookie from Samford, a program that plays in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Let's look at why the Steelers are sticking with Hodges for now:
Devlin Hodges finished his first appearance with seven completions on nine attempts for 68 yards, and two rushes for 20 yards. The Steelers scored a touchdown and a field goal with him at quarterback, because he was able to move the ball.
Hodges put up impressive numbers at Samford and was known for throwing the ball all over the field. He finished his collegiate career with 14,584 yards, 111 touchdowns and 61 interceptions. Our Dale Lolley wrote on how Hodges' collegiate coaches aren't surprised by his ascension in the NFL.
But from watching all of Hodges' tape, I've seen how much of a gamer he's been. That was on display against the Ravens last weekend. Hodges isn't afraid to target receivers downfield and sling the ball, trusting his reads for deep targets.
He also looks the part of a quarterback that understands the playbook, how to deal with pressure, and the timing of different routes. Let's look at one of the plays he displayed all of those skills.
The Ravens show a blatant zero coverage blitz, that being a blitz with no deep defenders behind their man coverage assignments. The Steelers only run three receivers into coverage and take on eight pass rushers with seven protectors. But Hodges remains poised despite the pressure and throws the perfectly timed pass to Diontae Johnson coming out of a hook route:
Hodges not only recognized the blitz, he didn't allow it to disrupt his timing on the throw to target Johnson 14 yards downfield. Plays like that from an undrafted rookie quarterback will inspire confidence in the rest of the offense as he remains cool under pressure.
But recognizing zero blitzes is a basic element of quarterbacking in the NFL. It doesn't account for the nuances of understanding zone coverage schemes or factoring for different methods the secondary could use to trick you.
Hodges also had plays where he showed he could make the proper reads and pick through the Ravens' secondary. Watch as he recognizes the Ravens' Cover 3 zone and waits for two defensive backs to follow Johnny Holton on his underneath out route to open up space for JuJu Smith-Schuster's crossing pattern:
Even with Smith-Schuster being open, Hodges has to throw the ball behind Smith-Schuster to ensure no defender could interrupt the pass. That's what makes him a gamer. He'll recognize a changing passing window after the snap and try his best to fire the ball into that space.
Most young third-string quarterbacks barely understand the playbook enough to understand where to put the ball, let alone adjust post-snap to how they should make those kinds of throws. Hodges has a very limited sample size of production, but an impressive showing thus far.
Four of his seven completions on Sunday went nine yards or further downfield. That's more than any of Mason Rudolph's first three appearances. Rudolph completed passes nine yards downfield only three times against the Ravens and the Bengals, only twice against the 49ers, and three times against the Seahawks.
That's not to say Hodges is better than Rudolph, but it shows his willingness to take risks with deeper shots. This was a major part of his college profile and why the Steelers brought him in for training camp. Watch this touchdown he threw against Florida State when he faked the pass to the flat and threw the perfect rainbow into single coverage for the touchdown:
That's Hodges at his best. He will recognize single coverage and attack it, trusting his receivers to make plays.
But that's not to say it's all sunshine and rainbows for the Steelers with this undrafted rookie quarterback. Several factors draw red flags when it comes to physical challenges teams expect from NFL quarterbacks.
The most obvious is his lack of height at 6 foot 1. He's got the head of a quarterback with decision making, but that height is four inches shorter than both Rudolph and Ben Roethlisberger who each stand at 6 foot 5. It's the height of Baker Mayfield, who was mocked by Nick Bosa for being too short to see over the 49ers' defense in their 31-3 route of the Browns on Monday night.
Hodges also doesn't have the biggest cannon of an arm. Most of his deeper passes aren't bullets and have longer hangtime for defenders to react and make plays on them. But he's confident in the Steelers' playbook and can deliver the ball around the field with authority.
Those are the factors that make him their starting quarterback against the Chargers this weekend.
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