Could Don Strock have been a successful long term starter?

[Jay Z]

Woodley was one of these physical QBs who won't do the film work. These guys always peak as rookies or really early, they play on their physical gifts and that's it. Still, he's an 8th round pick, plays really poorly in his first game against the Saints, still Shula goes with Woodley when Griese's done and Strock barely gets a look.

David also had issues with playing in front of crowds. He was scared to death of it. Woodley would have fantasies about playing in front of an empty stadium. It went back to his time at LSU, when the boos started to affect him greatly:

https://www.profootballhistory.com/david-woodley/

Awful what happened with him. Tough to be an NFL starting QB while being a natural introvert.

He needed a liver transplant (and received one) at 33 years old. Though he was an alcoholic, it was actually speculated that alcohol was not the reason he needed a new liver so soon. That liver disease at 33 even for a guy who has been drinking like a fish for as long as he possibly could would likely not need one by then

But then it's still weird that Woodley wound up getting such a long tenure, comparatively, on such a good team.

Woodley reminds me some of David Whitehurst with the Packers. But the Packers didn't have any other good choices once Dickey went down.

The Dolphins had to clear room for Woodley in 1980 by trading Guy Benjamin, a 2nd round draft pick from 1978 who really never got a fair look anywhere. I suppose they thought Benjamin was too immobile with the already immobile Strock. Woodley was more of a contrast, for sure.

In addition to his personality Woodley was never really even an average QB. He was an 8th round draft pick. Stunning that he played so much for a team with options.

Strock's career QB rating was 74.9. This puts him about the level of an average starter in 1980. Honestly, it does raise the question of why he didn't play more, ever get a solid shot of games. Yeah, he was immobile, but so were Dickey, Stabler, and Fouts. Now around 1980, the time of Woodley, Strock did have a stretch where he was more effective off the bench than starting. But Strock had done fairly well as a starter in a series of games in 1978, and he did well again the few times he started late in his career. So whether his off the bench rep was completely warranted or simply a run of luck is something of a guess. Certainly Shula erred in not pulling Woodley earlier in SB XVII. Got too caught up in the score instead of looking at the performance of what was only ever a marginal QB anyway.