When Matthew Stafford met Jake Rudock earlier this spring, the longtime Detroit Lions quarterback had sage advice for his new rookie understudy.
"Throw it to the guys in our jersey," Stafford joked.
Rudock, the Lions' sixth-round pick out of Michigan, has spent the spring learning a new offense and getting used to life in the NFL, and the road hasn't always been a smooth one.
"I think you do understand how difficult it is to play (quarterback)," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said at minicamp in June. "There's not a phase that he has under control at this point in time, which is what you'd expect. It takes a while. It takes guys that are starting, that get all the reps, that are playing in games sometimes two and three years to get it. So I think it's quite understandable."
The Lions drafted Rudock as a developmental prospect in hopes of grooming him to be the backup to Stafford.
Rudock started two seasons at Iowa before transferring last year to Michigan, where he completed 64 percent of his passes and threw for 3,017 yards.
He said being able to learn from Stafford and veteran Dan Orlovsky has been invaluable, and Caldwell said Rudock's future remains bright despite some uneven moments this spring.
"He's smart, he's diligent and he's developing," Caldwell said. "He's developing physically, which he has to. He's developing mentally because it's a little bit different challenge for him, but he certainly has the wherewithal to be very good in that area.
"He's a young pup right now, but he's going to be all right."
