Brett Hundley

A lot of threads lately about acquiring a UFA vet QB. Most favoring Keenum. I agreed, but Hundley could be another option and at half the price.

He has been in the league five years but if you look close you could argue that next year is only his 2nd. Drafted in 2015 by GB. Sat behind Rodgers for 2 yrs barely saw the field. 2018 at Seattle must have been injured did not play. Last year at AZ, of course he simply watched the #1 pick learn how to play QB.

The only year he played was 2017 when Rodgers was hurt. He started 9 games and played well in a few and sucked in some. He did play here in 2017 and lost 31-28. In that game he played better than I initially thought watching the game live, at least on the youtube game highlights. [beware of highlight films]

Brett Hundley QB 27 ARI TBD 3 40 49 41 $1,875,000 UFA

Hmm! 27, can win an nfl game, is not particularly mistake prone, etc. 5 yr vet, but little wear and tear etc.

Personally, I would like to see both Rudolph and Hodges step up and do the job. But since a lot of fans think we need a vet backup QB, I think he is further advanced than our two rooks and might be worth a look. Watch his arm strength and accuracy in the CLE game on youtube.

Anyone else think he could be an effective backup?

Thoughts???

 

D. Kizer beat him out of Green Bay
no thanks

 

I’d rather Attila the Hun.....

 

I'll be monitoring the responses in this thread...

 

Hundley was a disaster in GB from what I remember, may as well stick with Lynch If this is the caliber of guys being considered

If you want a decent backup QB like Keenum or Bridgewater it requires $$$$ and the Steelers don’t have any to spare. It’s Mason and Lynch next season backing up Ben

 

I'm just not giving up on Rudolph yet. Why spend money that we don't have on a vet FA QB when MR is perfectly able to win a game or two if Ben goes down next year. Plus if we get a "real" QB coach instead of some perennial grad assistant in Symmes, then MR can progress further hopefully.

If Ben gets a crappy diagnosis in Feb and on through the summer, we will have to re-assess.

 

Never heard of him.

 

Nah... HARD PASS!

 

No thanks

 

"Hundley was a disaster in GB from what I remember"

This was my perception of him also but the stats do not support this. Even in the game here it took a super effort from our stars to pull out the win. Uhh I'm sure some of the experts here would have cut both Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman their 1st year asap.

Here are some stats from the 1 year he actually started some games.

Opp Result G GS Comp Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Sck SckY Rate
NO L 17-26 1 1 12 25 48.0 87 3.5 0 1 1 8 39.9
pretty bad-- but his 1st start in week 7

DET L 17-30 1 1 26 38 68.4 245 6.4 0 0 3 12 86.0
not much better wk9 [wk 8 was better they had a bye]

@ CHI W 23-16 1 1 18 25 72.0 212 8.5 1 0 3 30 110.8
pretty good--see! he can win an nfl game.

@ PIT L 28-31 1 1 17 26 65.4 245 9.4 3 0 4 18 134.3
He may have outdid Ben in this one 134.3 not too shabby for a disaster

@ CLE W 27-21 1 1 35 46 76.1 265 5.8 3 0 1 9 111.2

Actually I do agree with you and do not expect any change QB wise. But if this is the case next year with the leagues #1 D, which I truly expect, they will possibly go 7-9 with no Ben. With this kid maybe 8-8 or 9-7 and probably miss the PO's. But of course it will be another season with a winning record.

 

Fix the o line. Get a fb that can be on the field. Mason has plenty of starts now to be considered a vet back-up. Shore up the rb spot again. Keep adding to a good defense.

 

Give Mason another shot. I’m sure even Lance Armstrong fell off his bicycle when he was a kid.

I liked what I was seeing with him once he came back in against the Jets.

He needs to work on his foot work, pocket presence, and make faster reads. I think a qb coach comes in to help and Tomlin adds one to the staff.

Although I’d bring in another rookie arm to compete with Hodges.

but more importantly let’s learn to run the ball, control the clock. Titans knocked off and steam rolled the ravens with a good defensive effort, ran the ball down their throats, and they threw for less than 100 yards.

 

Negative

 

Mac, I've been reading your posts all the way back to the closed official site. I really liked that you were up on all the developmental players. Unfortunately not much has come of them.

Anyhow, you're certainly right about the o line it is ageing and showing some weakness. The WR corp looks awful thin. Many are down on the TE bunch and some are hunting for a RB.

The bright spot is the D. A little luck in the draft it absolutely challenges for #1 next year.

Now this QB issue is incidental.

You know and I know they are not going to do anything in this area. regardless of Ben's status.

Adding Hundley to compete in this mix since he is no more than a rookie himself might prove interesting and not expensive.

 

Agree with Mac. The Quarterback play is only part of the issue. Offensive Line woes are as well. Have to get that fix first and foremost.

 

1. No doubt Mason gets another shot. Why not? But give this a thought.

There is a possibility that Pittsburgh goes into next season with three unproven QB's.

2. I am disappointed in the Duck. I really expected much more from him from the neck up. I didn't see it.

3. Then there is Lynch. Who I have never seen but heard he was a former 1st round choice and is now behind all of the above . Puzzling?

Really this looks like a keystone cops comedy. Of course we all know this organization always has the answers to all these situations. Don't they?

Oh well, lets see what happens. More than likely Ben is fine and all else is simply a moot point. Isn't it?

 

I wouldn't say not much has come from that group. 3 of our linemen are those types. Nix is one of them. Finney is another quality player. Hilton is another. The trouble is you can't just sit on what you have forever. Just like this defense, you have to keep adding good role players that can step in and give quality minutes.

my worry besides the o line is FB and the players we may lose. Dupree may be a top priority but hilton and hargraves will be two holes that will hurt. Barron will be another one that many want to cast off. This building defense that we think is so good right now could take a serious hit without these guys and their roles in this defense.

playing over priced guys over younger possibly more talented guys makes me crazy. UG3, sutton, spillane, layne, skipper, gray, cain, ola, guys like these really need some field time during the year to get some feel for the game. A few plays here and there during the season could go a long way in development. We spent a lot on Vince and chickillo. I think is wasted money and it hurts when we need it like this coming year. Watching guys like long play for the titans this year in spot duty opens your eyes to guys that just play good football when given a shot. Fort was a guy like this too. Not superstars but solid minutes that help their growth for next year. Status quo is fine until it's disrupted, then it's a scramble and it doesn't have to be. This coming year is going to be one where we will have to rely on these types to fill roles and our 53 man roster.

 

Just so your thoughts are not totally wasted, I was thinking something similar after seeing how he managed a few big upsets this year in the Desert. He reminds me a bit of Charlie Batch in that he's probably a weak #1 but an above average #2. Prior to his recent play this season, I felt he was just another overly hyped west coast golden boy QB from UCLA or USC who would fall completely flat in the NFL. Started with Marinovich a while back and continued on through Rosen. Jury's still out on Darnold IMO. But as many others correctly point out, many other holes to fill on O before this side of the line jells.

 

Why are you disappointed in Duck? he was an undrafted FA, passed by every team and only invited to camp after a special try out. He was cut, and only picked up because the team needed a body do to injury and he at least had knowledge of the O. To suggest you expected 'more from the neck up' from a rookie, let alone one with the history I recounted says you have no realistic vision of what it takes to play in the NFL. I had no expectations from him, was glad he had some success and knew he was likely to have more failures than success. He may develop, I doubt it..just does not seem to have the arm, but there have been those with less talent hang around as a back up for a long NFL career.

MR, he could make leaps if he works on it..or he could work his tail off and still suck. Won't know until he gets out there.

Lynch, with ya on that. Signed long enough to think if he had any significance they would have played him, especially after Duck's showing.

If you get a chance read Labriola's article on Steelers.com from 1/10 on back up QB's. About the best narrative on the subject I have read in a while. Pretty simple really, few teams have quality starters, what makes anyone think a BU will be the answer. Once in a long while a team gets lucky, Philly with Foles a few years ago...then see what Foles did this year as a starter. Bridgewater chose to stay another year as a BU (for significant money btw), proved he was really healthy and a winner and is set to cash in.

 

----Nix Finney Hilton----- Quality role players, Mac these are not the type players I was referring to. Heck this is the depth of a football team and possibly it's most important part. The Steelers have emphasized this for decades and believe it is a big part of their success so do I.

I was referring to those couple dozen that are picked up after the draft and before training camp to get to 90 but just don't stick and are released. But it's a lot of fun to root for them and without someone to identify them it's confusing.

You know, if just a couple of those type players prove out it is a huge bonus to any team. It just seems to me that far fewer cut it now then in past decades. Often these role players are my favorites.

"playing over priced guys over younger possibly more talented guys makes me crazy."

Glad you mentioned that. I didn't think it was the Steeler way in the past. And what better season to truly test all these players than this one. Puzzling?

You hint this off season is a critical one. Some key FA decisions but I doubt they will lose anyone they don't want to lose. Yeah, the organization has it's work cut out for them. No doubt!

There are a number of critical areas needing addressed. I agree with you BU QB is the least. Hmm! Maybe starting QB should be of more concern and on the radar soon.

 

Totally agree. Doesn’t make sense when people are so quick to judge a guy’s ability when he doesn’t get a legitimate chance to show anything. Just because guys like Chickillo are getting snaps over other guys like Ola doesn’t really prove anything especially since this coaching staff has a tendency to go overboard with their comfort and familiarity with the players. It took Dupree until his 5th season logging 600+ snaps a season and we’re expected to see something noteworthy from a guy getting 100 snaps? They need to find more opportunities for these guys during the season so you can get a better gauge on what you have....

 

oh yea, I got you. Yes this year did let us take a look at some guys, but it was also some guys that didn't get a full camp in our system either.

In the case of mason and Snell and a few others remember they played most of the preseason too since our starters dont. That is one long season for guys not used to it.

Another thing that troubled me was the let down of the vet guys that we should have been able to count on.

The front office too. The minka move was great. The nix non move stunk. The wr that has been here for two years on the practice squad and played in two or three games was cut for Cain to be brought in. Why was he still on our ps if he was that bad? He's been around for two years. UG3 not getting any defensive snaps during the year.

The coaching decisions. Just little things that were not taken care of during this time when we as fans look hard at the young players to step up but this should have been the time for the front office and the coaching staff to really see how good they are with doing their jobs instead of going through the motions. This was the time they should have really stepped up and didnt.

 

UG3 got hurt mac. Don’t remember exactly when though to be honest. 9-7 with Ben and 8-8 without Ben. I don’t know what exactly it says about our coaches? Some will say we didn’t have a good defense last year. Doesn’t that fall on the coaches to make it good enough to at least be a playoff team? There have been plenty of coaches that were able to get their teams to the playoffs with weak O or D. They coached them up and did enough to get there. Every season is different and there’s no guarantee our D plays at the same level again next year that’s why I don’t buy the excuse last year. It’s quite possible our D isn’t as strong and our O is a little better and we still miss out. Bottom line is the coaches have to get it done at the end of the day excuses are like you know what....

 

Brett Hundley isn't better than what we already have. He had one game in which he looked good, it was against the Steelers. The caveat is that happened when the Steeler defense was making every back up QB look like Joe Montana. That season we had Artie Burns starting and the defense lead the league in most TD plays over 30, 40, and 50 yards.

 

I know he ended up hurt but even prior to that he didn't see the field.

with losses on defense it will be different. I think hargraves and dupree are gone.