PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – A story broken by 93.7 The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi, the Steelers are doing what seemed unlikely after the season, Fillipponi reports they are re-signing veteran quarterback Mason Rudolph.
Drafted in the third round in 2018 saying they had a first-round grade on him, Rudolph sat behind Ben Roethlisberger for four years. When Roethlisberger finally retired, not only did the Steelers sign Mitch Trubisky to start, but drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round in 2022.
Rudolph dressed for only one game and never played a snap last year. It appeared there was no chance he was coming back. But the other offers weren’t there, teams filled their quarterback vacancies through the draft and free agency and when the music stopped-Mason didn’t have a new chair.
The signing does give the Steelers some options. If Rudolph comes into training camp and plays well, which he did for the early part of last season, it would allow Steelers management to think about a Trubisky trade. There may be teams that have injuries to quarterbacks during August and early September and a veteran quarterback could fetch a decent draft pick. As long as they are confident Rudolph could take over if needed.
If the Steelers were to want a player at another position and needed cap space, trading Trubisky would save $8 million in salary as the team would still have $2.625 million in dead cap according to overthecap.com.
Credit to Rudolph, for as much as he might think he was unfairly treated with the Steelers, he never burned a bridge. Allowing himself the opportunity to sign back, which is what Fillipponi reported Monday afternoon.
In 17 NFL games (10 starts), Rudolph is 5-4-1 with a 61.5 completion percentage, 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His best game came at the end of the 2021 season when he was 22-39 for 315 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in a 24-22 loss at Cleveland. A game that didn’t matter for the Steelers, but the Browns needed to get in the playoffs.
His worst start was also in Cleveland, when he threw four interceptions in a 2019 prime-time loss that became more remembered for Cleveland’s Myles Garrett ripping Rudolph’s helmet off and hitting him on his unprotected head with it.
Steelers had three quarterbacks in for tryouts during rookie mini-camp and signed Tanner Morgan to a rookie free agent contract. Now it appears the number three QB won’t be a rookie, but another opportunity for a third-round draft pick from five years ago.
Who would have thought-Mason Rudolph back with the Steelers.