Luke Altmyer is a long shot at QB2 for the Lions, but he is about to get a shot more quarterbacks don’t
Altmyer is not the next Brock Purdy at this point, but he is about to get a shot most quarterbacks don’t this week.
When Teddy Bridgewater stepped down from the Detroit Lions on Sunday, there was a very quick reach from Lions fans to put Luke Altmyer right into that QB2 spot. I get it. If there’s one thing in this sport that is fun to do, it’s to imagine the third strong quarterback turning into the guy. It’s Disney movie-type stuff.
Then there’s 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. The last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft turns into a Pro Bowler and leads San Francisco to the Super Bowl. When Altmyer had some good-looking days at OTAs and mandatory minicamp, I think fans were really hoping that he could be that next Purdy.
Look, anything is possible, but let’s put it this way. Every day I’m at training camp, I have a notebook with me where I write down some of the things I want to write about, big observations, and players that are catching my eye. We’re two weeks in, and I have yet to write down Altmyer’s name in that notebook. It’s because he just hasn’t really done much once the pads came on and he started facing real pressure.
Altmyer is just not ready yet
On top of that, Lions head coach Dan Campbell essentially shot down any chance that Altmyer could win the job on Sunday when he baselineed it all by saying Altmyer is not ready and could use a million reps.
“Yeah, thought he did some really good things. He was put in some really tough positions for a young player that you absolutely have to be put in, you just do. You’ve got to be thrust in it and really you need to fail, you need to make mistakes so that you can grow. And we thought he handled it really well, we did.” Campbell said. “And there were some things. He had a delay of game, there were a couple of misreads. But man, that’s part of growth. But what you feel like right now, we’ll know a lot more when we get in the games, is it doesn’t feel too big to him right now. And that’s a great sign at that position. So, we’ll see, he’s got a long way to go and he just needs a million reps.”
The shot most guys don’t get
The best thing for Altmyer at this time is to convince the Lions that they need to carry three quarterbacks instead of just two. He’s going to get his best in-game chance on Thursday when the Lions play the Bengals in their first preseason game of the year.
With Joshua Dobbs so new to the team and only able to get in one to two practices, Altmyer should likely get the bulk of the reps in that game. It’s a spot you don’t usually find yourself in if you’re in Altmyer’s position. But right now, it’s a long shot for him to be QB2 unless he has a perfect game and then follows it up with perfect practices.
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