Stoudt Has Tryout With the Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals gave former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Cliff Stoudt a brief workout at Busch Stadium Wednesday in efforts to find a suitable backup to Neil Lomax.

Stoudt, 31, threw the ball for 15 to 20 minutes as Coach Gene Stallings and personnel director Larry Wilson watched.

Afterward, neither Stoudt nor team officials would say what the performance proved.

“Throwing the ball around to one guy wouldn’t show them much,” Stoudt said during a news conference. “But I assume they have my tapes. I think my visit here was mainly to take the physical and meet some of the people.”

Stoudt has made it known he has no desire to return to the Steelers, who made him their fifth-round draft choice in 1980. He backed up Terry Bradshaw until 1983, when he became a regular, starting all but one of Pittsburgh’s 16 regular-season games.

After that, Stoudt spent two seasons with Birmingham in the United States Football League.

St. Louis on Tuesday created a possible opening for Stoudt when six-year veteran Scott Brunner, the backup in 1985 for Lomax, was released along with eight other players. The Cardinals open the regular season on Sept. 7, playing host to the Rams.