The 5 O'Clock Club: Poll Rewind - McCoy vs Sudfeld as backup QB

The 5 o’clock club aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

Welcome to the Poll Rewind series!

As you probably know already, each 5 o’clock club post ends with a poll question. Usually, the results are forgotten within a day or two, but no longer!

Over the course of the off-season (From now to July 2018) we will be re-visiting some (not all) of the results of polls that were published from June to December 2017.

Several of the writers on Hogs Haven — Ken, Mark, James Dorsett & Cadillactica — have agreed to help me out with the poll reviews by adding commentary so you aren’t stuck with my voice all the time.

For today, though, the comments are mine.

We go back to two polls taken 17 days apart, during pre-season.

The poll 11 August 2017 asked which quarterback should be #2 on the depth chart when the Redksins open the season against the Eagles.

The results might be surprising now, but just prior to this poll, the Redskins had played a pre-season game against the Ravens. The Redskins scored only 3 points, so it wasn’t a great offensive performance. Still, Sudfeld completed 5/12 and 68 yards; he looked generally poised and confident. McCoy had similar statistics, going 6/13 and 40 yards, but had also thrown an interception. The sentiment was strongly with Sudfeld over McCoy.

• Nate Sudfeld 65%
• Colt McCoy 35%

The second pre-season game was a Redskins loss to the Packers. Sudfeld was 6/11 and 64 yards. McCoy was 7/11, 70 yards and a touchdown.

On 27 August, the Redskins got their first pre-season win of 2017 against the Bengals. Sudfeld didn’t play at all. In this game, McCoy went 8/11, 76 yards, and the Redskins only passing touchdown. Cousins threw an interception in the game, and some people felt that Colt had looked better than Kirk, albeit against third string opponents.

A second poll on 28 August 2017 asked who should be the #2 quarterback in the regular season?

After the Packers and Bengals games, sentiment had switched entirely. It was nearly unanimous in favor of Colt.

• Colt McCoy 94%
• Nate Sudfeld 6%

The front office apparently agreed, as Sudfeld was waived after the final pre-season game. The team later confirmed that they intended to sign Sudfeld to the practice squad and probably intended to put him back on the 53-man roster in week 2 or 3 after clearing a couple of injury-related roster hurdles.

Instead, the Eagles offered Sudfeld the full $550,000 salary that he would have earned on the 53-man roster and signed him to their practice squad.

Following Wentz’s ACL tear, Nate Sudfeld was elevated to the Eagles’ roster and will be on the sidelines on Sunday, February 4th as the backup to Nick Foles.

If Foles gets injured during the game, Nate Sudfeld — the guy that couldn’t make the Redskin roster this season — could find himself thrust into the spotlight, taking the field against the New England Patriots in a bid to win the World Championship.

Heady stuff for our 2016 6th round draft pick.