There is plenty of talk surrounding who will be the Steelers starting quarterback in 2022, but the fact remains that only one is currently under contract, Mason Rudolph.
Talking to Jim Rome recently, Rudolph says he believes his playing style will work well with offensive coordinator Matt Canada adding he says it’s time for him “to take that next step.”
Rudolph also said that Canada was unable to fully run the offense he wanted with Ben Roethlisberger under center.
“There were some concepts, there were some things that Ben had ran, that Ben had been comfortable with for 10 years, no matter who the coordinator was, he was tied to some concepts,” said Rudolph.
Rudolph adds the 2021 offense was a mix of Canada and Roethlisberger. “You get that kind of leeway when you’re an 18-year, future Hall of Fame quarterback.”
Now that Canada is on his own, Rudolph believes he can play well in his system.
“He’s a play-action guy, he’s a push the ball down the field guy and I think that suits my style well,” said Rudolph.
While Rudolph is technically the only QB on the roster currently, he knows that the team will bring in another quarterback, along with Dwayne Haskins for him to compete with and that he’s going to be in a “quarterback battle.”
“There’s always going to be competition, no matter if we draft somebody if we bring somebody else in, I’m never going to shy away from that and that’s an obviously component,” said Rudolph.
Rudolph hasn’t exactly put together a sparkling resume in the NFL, posting a 5-4-1 career record over 10 starts. Most of those starts came in 2019 when Roethlisberger went down with an elbow injury. Rudolph suffered a concussion, missing some time and was also benched that season in favor of Devlin “Duck” Hodges.
Rudolph started one game last season for the Steelers against the Detroit Lions. That game ended in a tie.