Breaking down the preseason start from Detroit Lions QB Nate Sudfeld against the New York Giants
It’s always hard to buy into everything you see in the NFL preseason. We obviously know that each team has plenty of players that do and don’t make the 53-man roster. But it’s the ultimate job interview for these players. They have to prove that they belong and that the team they play for made the right decision in drafting them or signing them.
In the first preseason game of the year, the Detroit Lions and New York Giants kicked off that interview process. For some players, it went great and for others, not so much.
In Detroit, they’ve got plenty of players that helped kick start this new regime. However, these players could be on the outside looking in and might end up finding themselves not being part of the Lions roster in a few weeks. It’s been a common trend for the backup quarterback spot in Detroit over recent years.
In previous years we saw quarterbacks such as Tim Boyle and David Blough have to battle through training camp and the preseason to earn their spots. Now, there’s another quarterback going through that same process. That quarterback is Nate Sudfeld.
Last season, he had signed with the Lions after being cut by the San Francisco 49ers. During his first season in Detroit, Sudfeld impressed the Lions coaching staff enough to earn a contract extension in the off-season. However, the Lions front office has made it clear that they’re looking to upgrade the quarterback position in Detroit. They want more competition in that room, and they’re doing everything they can to create it.
While Jared Goff looks to be the guy, it didn’t stop Detroit from drafting Hendon Hooker in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft. That alone made it feel like Sudfeld could be on the verge of having to find his 4th team in four years.
Fortunately for Sudfeld, he was able to earn plenty of reps as the Lions backup quarterback this summer. Much of this is due to Hooker likely starting the year on the PUP list. But the struggles for Sudfeld have been real. He has misplaced throws in camp and really had a rough outing against the Giants during the second day of joint practices earlier this week.
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Looking for redemption, Sudfeld was given the chance to start against the Giants in the first preseason game. He went 15-for-28 for 194 yards, two interceptions and had a passer rating of 45.8 while playing three quarters for Detroit.
While head coach Dan Campbell had stated that he saw “more positive than negative” with Sudfeld, the tape tells a different story. For starters, the first play of the game was a pass that floated downfield while the Giants defense aligned with a single-high safety. As Sudfeld was targeting Jameson Williams on this pass, he was hit low in the pocket and the ball hung up in the air for an easy interception.
Even though the Lions defense held the Giants to three points, the next drive wasn’t much better for the veteran quarterback. The first play after the interception was a short-trap run where Sudfeld had just over 10 seconds on the play clock to read the defense. However, it felt like he rushed the snap and didn’t read the blitzing safety that was in the box and it led to rookie Jahmyr Gibbs getting stuffed in the backfield.
Ultimately, the second drive for the Lions offense was a four-and-out. They found themselves going for it on 4th-and-1 with a play-action pass to Sam LaPorta that hit him in the hands but the defender draped over his shoulder broke the pass up.
As the game progressed, Sudfeld found some success throwing to Dylan Drummond, Antoine Green and James Mitchell. There was even a 3rd-down pass in the first quarter where he extended the play outside of the pocket and he found Jahmyr Gibbs for a first down.
Unfortunately, he did have another interception late in the 2nd quarter when throwing over the middle of the field while targeting Jameson Williams. It looked as if Williams could have put his hands up to attempt the catch but didn’t as he had tight coverage around him. This ultimately led to the ball hitting Giants safety Dane Belton in the hands for a big return. This set up a touchdown for the Giants and they took a 13-3 lead going into the half.
Certainly not every bad play was Sudfeld’s fault in the first preseason game. At the end of the first half, he hit Dylan Drummond in the chest on a jump ball in the end-zone but it was dropped. Meanwhile, his best throw of the night was a deep throw to Jameson Williams that was dropped by the second-year receiver.
But the struggles were real though for Sudfeld on Friday night. He’ll need to trust his ability to move outside of the pocket and ultimately, he needs to improve with his pre-snap communication. There were far too many instances where he rushed into taking the snap and it led to tackles for loss or miscues on certain throws.
The way Dan Campbell was talking after the game, it sounds like Sudfeld did enough to hold off rookie Adrian Martinez from taking reps from him. However, Sudfeld will need to get better if he wants to beat out Teddy Bridgewater for the backup quarterback spot.
Head coach Dan Campbell has made it evident that “they need to get Teddy some reps.” The way it’s shaping up is that we’ll see plenty of reps from Teddy and Nate for the QB2 battle in Detroit. I doubt that Sudfeld gets another three quarters of play to prove what he can and cannot do so he’ll need to make every play count against the Jacksonville Jaguars next week.
