Now that the 2020 regular season has begun, following a second consecutive season in which they failed to even reach the playoffs, it’s time to take stock of where the Pittsburgh Steelers stand. Specifically where Steelers players stand individually based on what we are seeing over the course of the season as it plays out. Who is making plays? Who is missing them? Who is losing snaps? Who is struggling to stay on the field?
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. 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 season as we move forward.
Player: QB Devlin Hodges
Stock Value: Sold
Reasoning: At least for the time being, the Pittsburgh Steelers have not signed second-year quarterback Devlin Hodges, who spent all of the 2020 season on the practice squad, to a Reserve/Future contract—the reason for this is unknown.
The Steelers announced yesterday that they signed 13 players to Reserve/Future contracts. While there will be more names to come in the coming days, some of the names that were not on the list were notable, among them being second-year quarterback Devlin Hodges.
This is especially interesting given that the man who replaced him as their number three quarterback, Joshua Dobbs, is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March, so they will still need to bring in a number three quarterback.
It’s important to note that signing a Reserve/Future contract is a two-way street. It is entirely possible that the Steelers did offer Hodges a contract, but decided that he would rather keep his options open and try to land somewhere else instead. That’s entirely within his power and within his right.
And it’s entirely possible that he is later retained on a Reserve/Future contract down the road, as well. For example, last year, running back Darrin Hall spent much of the year on the practice squad and finished the 2019 season there. But while the bulk of the group was tendered deals on December 30, Hall did not sign until January 7.
We did not see Hodges at all in 2020, of course. We had no opportunity to get a look into training camp and there was no preseason. Given that they had four quarterbacks during the regular season, it’s likely he didn’t get much work in the first place.
During his rookie season in 2019, of course, he started six games, playing in eight. He completed 100 of 160 passes for 1063 yards and five touchdowns to eight interceptions with 15 sacks and one game-winning drive.
