Josh Woodrum should state his case as the backup over Ryan Mallett
By Andrew Kim
When the Baltimore Ravens signed the journeyman quarterback from Liberty in July, everyone thought Josh Woodrum was just a quarterback for training camp.
Before he signed with the Baltimore, undrafted free agent quarterback Josh Woodrum (2016 to now) signed with four other teams (Giants, Colts, Bears, Bills) on their practice squads/ mini-camps but now is impressing in the preseason for the Ravens.
For Liberty, Woodrum played in 46 games as a four-year starter with 10,266 yards in the air, 61 passing touchdowns, and 10,690 total yards. He was also named the 2012 Big South freshman of the year, earned all-conference second-team honors in each of his final three seasons, played in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, and was invited to the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine.
In the last two preseason games, Josh Woodrum has been the central star of the offense so far for the second and third team.
Woodrum has gone 12/14 for 195 total passing yards with one passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns. Although he is facing second and third team players, this is quite surprising as the offense is pretty fluid compared to the first team offense led by Ryan Mallett.
Mallett’s stats compared to Woodrum are not good at all, although he is facing first team defenses as he has gone 22/40 for 171 total passing yards and has thrown one touchdown pass with two interceptions. Mallett has played longer durations, but Woodrum’s mobility and ability to move the chains has been a sight to see in the preseason when Mallett would often be inaccurate and stand like a statue when pressured.
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I think Woodrum has displayed enough to be given reps with the starters next week and should split snaps with Mallett to see if he can perform better than Mallett when he goes against a starting defense.
We know what we have in Mallett but Woodrum might provide a spark in a stagnant starting offense so far in the preseason and with Joe Flacco not practicing this week, uncertainty in the backup quarterback position is something that the Ravens have to figure out for Week one.