Quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges and two South Alabama alumni were placed on waivers on Monday as NFL teams moved to reach a Tuesday roster deadline.
NFL teams have three deadlines to meet to reach the regular-season limit of 53 players. The 90-player training-camp rosters had to be down to 85 players at 3 p.m. CDT Aug. 17, and the 85 players must be reduced to 80 by 3 p.m. Tuesday. Each team must meet the 53-player active roster limit by 3 p.m. Aug. 31.
The Los Angeles Rams waived Hodges, the Kansas City Chiefs waived linebacker Riley Cole and the Las Vegas Raiders waived punter Corliss Waitman on Monday.
Hodges started the Rams’ 13-6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Aug. 14 in the preseason opener. He completed 11-of-19 passes for 85 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Hodges did not play in the Rams’ 17-16 preseason loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday night.
Three quarterbacks remain on the Rams’ roster – starter Matthew Stafford, backup John Wolford and Bryce Perkins, who spent last season on Los Angeles’ practice squad.
A prep standout at Mortimer Jordan in Kimberly, Hodges broke Steve McNair’s NCAA FCS record for career passing yards and won the Walter Payton Award in 2018 as the division’s best player while at Samford. But he still entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie.
After Hodges was released by Pittsburgh at the end of the 2019 preseason, injuries caused the Steelers to start him in six games that season. Hodges completed 100-of-160 passes for 1,063 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions and ran for 68 yards on 21 carries in eight games.
Before the 2020 season, Hodges survived when Pittsburgh trimmed its training-camp roster to the regular-season limit. But when the Steelers were awarded quarterback Joshua Dobbs on waivers the next day, they released Hodges. When Hodges cleared waivers, Pittsburgh re-signed him for its practice squad, and the quarterback spent the 2020 season there.
A prep star at Oneonta, Cole joined the Chiefs from South Alabama as an undrafted rookie in May.
In Kansas City’s 19-16 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in its preseason opener on Aug. 14, Cole tied for the team lead with five tackles. He played 38 defensive snaps (54 percent of the Chiefs’ total) and 11 special-teams plays.
In the Chiefs’ 17-10 preseason victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Friday night, Cole was on the field for only one special-teams play.
Waitman had handled all the punting in Las Vegas’ first two preseason games. He averaged 43.3 yards with a 36.7-yard net on three punts in the Raiders’ 20-7 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 14 and 45.2 yards with a 41.2-yard net on five punts in a 17-16 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night.
Waitman’s release leaves incumbent AJ Cole as the only punter on Las Vegas’ roster.
Waitman entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2020, which he spent on the Steelers’ practice squad. Pittsburgh released Waitman on May 3.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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