Now that training camp is underway, and the roster for the offseason is close to finalized—though always fluid—it’s time to take stock of where the Pittsburgh Steelers stand. Specifically where Steelers players stand individually based on what we have seen happen over the course of the past few months.
A stock evaluation can take a couple of different approaches and I’ll try to make clear my reasonings. In some cases it will be based on more long-term trends, such as an accumulation of offseason activity. In other instances it will be a direct response to something that just happened. So we can see a player more than once over the course of the summer as we move forward.
Player: QB Devlin Hodges
Stock Value: Down
Here’s an obvious one. a week after throwing four interceptions in four quarters of play, Devlin Hodges again averaged about an interception per quarter, playing roughly half of yesterday’s game and being intercepted twice.
With six picks in six quarters, the cumulative effect of his lack of ball security resulted in him taking a seat this time around. Mike Tomlin made the decision to bench Devlin Hodges following his second interception in the second quarter, and he would have remained there for the rest of the game.
Would have, if not for Mason Rudolph suffering a shoulder injury. Rudolph replaced Hodges and generally played well, making quality throws in key moments, but he took several shots, the worst offender being on a running play of all things when he got tangled up with B.J. Finney at center on his first snap in the game.
Hodges had to come back in and play out the fourth quarter, but he couldn’t lead the offense to any points. The offense was blanked during his play in the first half as well, and this is in spite of the fact that they were at least in scoring position multiple times. But turnovers and sacks prevented him from putting any points on the board.
It’s safe to say that the rookie out of Samford has lost a lot of support over the course of the past eight days. There are a lot of newly-purchased duck calls who may well remain idle for the foreseeable future. We even saw a duck morph into a deer in the stadium yesterday.
There’s still some hope yet in 2019. If Hodges has the opportunity to start on Sunday (and that may be the case due to Rudolph’s injury), he can work on redeeming himself by beating the Baltimore Ravens. If they can get help, they can even make it into the postseason.
Go on to win the Super Bowl, and people will probably forget about that six-interception streak. But that’s about as likely as him being a full-time duck hunter a couple years from now.
