Saturday open thread: Who will win the Lions’ backup quarterback job?

The Detroit Lions just wrapped up minicamp this week, and it was the local media’s best opportunity to get a long look at the team before training camp rolls around in a month or so. Detroit held three practices this week, all of which were open to the media in their entirety.

We learned a lot about where the team stands right now, and one of the most interesting camp battles that will be heating up is at the backup quarterback position. It may not be the most important position on the team, but all it takes is one injury and then it suddenly is the most important position on the team.

This week, we learned that the Lions are trying out both Matt Cassel and Jake Rudock for the backup position, as they traded days working with the second-team offense. While Rudock has both youth and experience under offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, Cassel brings an NFL veteran presence to the quarterback room, as well as a familiar face for head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn.

Today’s Question of the Day is:

Which quarterback will win the backup job in Detroit?

My answer: I think Jake Rudock will keep the backup job, despite the Lions adding Cassel this offseason.

Rudock’s jump from Year 1 to Year 2 was very noticeable in the preseason, even if he looked bad in his one, brief regular season game appearance in 2017. During a few exhibition games, Rudock looked a lot more comfortable in Cooter’s offense, and the Lions allowed him to throw more challenging passes—and he held his own.

So I think there’s a decent chance Rudock could develop even more between Year 2 and Year 3 of his career. Early returns on his minicamp performance this year were largely positive.

“His athleticism is far better than Matt Cassel, and he clearly has a better handle on the offense,” Kyle Meinke of MLive wrote this week. “He seemed to make fewer mistakes too, although he threw one pick right to Tracy Walker for what could have been a pick-six on Thursday.”

At this point, I think Rudock’s comfort in the offense combined with his potential to improve every year makes him a much better option than Cassel, whose “experience” as a starter amounts to just two starts in the past two years.

Your turn.