QB Duck Hodges seeks landing spot with Rams
The former Steeler gets an extra chance to compete for a job with Rams backup John Wolford sidelined for their preseason game against the Chargers.
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QB Duck Hodges seeks landing spot with Rams
IRVINE — In his many appearances on the NFL transaction wire, he is known as Devlin Hodges. Devlin Hodges, signed. Devlin Hodges, waived. Devlin Hodges, signed to the practice squad.And, most recently, Devlin Hodges, signed to a reserve/future contract with the Rams.
But you can call him Duck, his nickname since his freshman year at Samford University, where a coach picked up on the Alabama native’s constant talk of duck hunting and duck calling.
“Anyone that calls me Devlin, I’m kind of like, ‘Do I know you?’” he said.
At 25, Hodges is working on making a name for himself in the NFL for the second time.
Two years ago, as an undrafted rookie, he had a Cinderella rise from the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad to starting quarterback for six games after injuries to Ben Roethlisberger and second-stringer Mason Rudolph. The Steelers went 4-4 in the eight games he played. He led a game-winning drive against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hodges spent all of 2020 on the Pittsburgh practice squad. The day his contract expired last January, the Rams called his agent. He jumped at the chance to compete to back up, at the time, Jared Goff.
Now the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder wearing number 19 is competing to be one of Matthew Stafford’s backups, and with John Wolford expected to miss at least another week following an appendectomy, Hodges and Bryce Perkins are getting more chances to prove themselves.
“I’ve always been a guy, in my two years so far in this league, who’s gotten limited opportunities,” Hodges said Monday after the Rams’ second-to-last practice of the two weeks of training camp at UC Irvine. “With those limited opportunities, I’m making the most out of it.”
While Stafford played most of the downs in Saturday’s scrimmage against the Dallas Cowboys, Hodges got in to complete 7 of 9 passes by an unofficial count, while Perkins went 6 for 6.
With Rams starters sitting out exhibition games, Hodges and Perkins are expected to split playing time in this Saturday’s preseason opener against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
The Rams know Perkins from his year on the practice squad. They’re getting to know Hodges now.
They know he can play. He set an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision career passing record with 14,584 yards at Samford, and won the Walter Payton Award as a senior as the outstanding offensive player at the FCS level. It was his biggest individual honor, unless you count his victory in the 2018 Alabama State Duck Calling Championship.
The question is how fast and well Hodges can learn to adjust to his new team’s play-calling system, which doesn’t involve quarterbacks reading wristbands as the Steelers’ did.
“There’s a lot of different things in terms of the vernacular, the verbiage that’s new to him (from) his previous background in Pittsburgh,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “But he’s a natural thrower, he’s got just a natural feel, he’s got good command in the huddle.”
Said Hodges: “Once I get the ball in my hands, I’m very confident in what’s going on.”
That confidence has been tested, such as when the Steelers waived him in 2019, and he spent a week on the couch wondering what kind of job he could get, before the team recalled him to the practice squad.
Hodges is only two years into his NFL career, and he already calls it “crazy.”
“It’s just been up and down. I will say this, I’ve kind of really gotten a good picture of how it all works on the business side (of football),” he said.
“Any day I get a chance to come out here, whether it be for third (quarterback), backup, starter, it’s a blessing.”
He’s Devlin Hodges on the Rams’ 90-man training camp roster. Maybe they’ll get more familiar if he makes the 53-man.
NOTES
Brian Allen has been getting more first-unit practice reps at center, suggesting Austin Corbett’s shift to center and Bobby Evans’ installation at right guard isn’t official yet. “It’s really a reflection of how well Brian’s played, and we’re going to continue to evaluate that,” McVay said. Allen began 2019 as the Rams’ starting center, but a knee injury cost him the past season and a half. … Outside linebacker Terrell Lewis was out of pads and on the sideline for the second time in the past five practice sessions. “Terrell’s knee is kind of acting up again, so we’re going to see what that looks like as we move forward,” McVay said of the 2020 third-round draft pick. … Nose tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day sat out practice after rolling an ankle in the scrimmage against the Cowboys on Saturday.
