PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s not a desirable situation not knowing who the starting quarterback will be going into a game week. It’s most awkward on the back-up quarterback, as he prepares to play unsure if the starter just might take that opportunity away.
When Mason Rudolph was a younger Steeler, those situations seemed tense with he and Ben Roethlisberger. However, the relationship between Rudolph and Aaron Rodgers is something different.
“Yeah Mason, he's a troll,” Rodgers said with a huge smile.
“It’s pretty harsh coming from a troll himself,” Rudolph replied.
“We got a good healthy banter, all of us, each and every day and it’s been one of the most fun rooms I’ve ever been a part of. We keep it light.”
“He makes every day so much fun, I told him this, I said just thanks for making this fun because every day he's got, we joke in the quarterback room, he's got a checklist of the jokes he's gotta get off out of his brain every single day but he's hilarious and I really enjoy our time together in the room, in here, outside of the facility,” Rodgers said.
“There’s a lot of material for me to use,” Rudolph said. “He’s at a little of disadvantage because I don’t have the paparazzi waiting outside my house in Malibu every day."
Of the things Rudolph would share with us, he said jokes about Rodgers being a big plant medicine guy, where he’s traveled, that he was on the last plane out of Peru before the COVID lockdown. Those are all fair game for Rudolph’s joke list.
Like all of us from the fans, reporters, players, staff, coaches, you weren’t sure how this was going to go down. How would Rodgers be as a member of the Steelers after two forgettable years in New York?
“I didn’t know what to expect, but I had enough mutual friends that said he was an awesome guy,” Rudolph said. “Ultra-famous and ultra-successful, but can let his guard down and just be as normal as you could ask for. We’ve all appreciated that.”
“He's a great backup, you know, like he's super helpful during the week,” Rodgers said. “He is a professional, he can play, he’s a gamer. And, you know, watching the locker room last week, I was super fired up watching him go up and down the field in those couple drives he had. And thankful for the way he played, the way that he prepares.”
“He's a lot more type A, I would say, than I am with the preparation. He's wound a little tight, but it makes it good for a good backup quarterback because he's so in tune to the details. I just love being around him.”
Rudolph said Rodgers was very complimentary of him, and the entire team after the game. He was giving a lot of high-fives. It was in that moment that Rudolph allowed himself to think about this from a bigger picture.
“To be a 14-year-old me and know that I was getting a nice dap from A-Rod after a game would be pretty darn exciting,” Rudolph said.