Mason Rudolph reportedly hopes to parlay his 3-0 record as a starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers last season into a fresh start with a new club in 2024. But it might not be that easy. After all, Rudolph doesn’t have the luxury of picking where he goes and his options will be limited.
Either way, it’s an intriguing storyline to watch, said Brooke Pryor, Steelers insider for ESPN.
“At this point, I think it’s kind of up in the air,” Pryor said Wednesday on the Two on OSU podcast.
Steelers President Art Rooney II already stated he’d like to see Rudolph back in the black and gold, but it could just be lip service.
“I’m so intrigued to see what the Steelers do because I think that they would like to bring Mason Rudolph back, but I don’t know how Mason fits in Arthur Smith’s new system.” Rudolph does his best work in the pocket, and Smith’s system requires a more athletic, mobile quarterback.
Rudolph might also still feel the sting of what Mike Tomlin touted as an open competition in 2022. Several Steelers beat writers who covered that season’s training camp witnessed Rudolph outperforming Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky only to wind up third in the pecking order.
“I’m interested to see if Mason wants an opportunity to prove himself somewhere else because of the rollercoaster that he has been on throughout his career in Pittsburgh when there was essentially an open quarterback competition between Pickett and Trubisky, and Rudolph was supposed to be in the mix,” said Pryor.
“But as we know, it was kind of, I hate to say, a sham competition, but it was pretty much known the whole time that it was going to be Trubisky, Pickett, and then Rudolph.”
There are so many unknowns in the future at quarterback for Pittsburgh. Pickett is currently the lone signal caller on the roster, with offseason workout programs just two months away. A lot can and will happen between now and then, including the big ticket event of NFL free agency on March 13. Rudolph will test the waters of free agency for the second time in as many years, and the Steelers, in turn, might go in a different direction.
Although Rudolph did a decent job at boosting his stock with three wins to close out the Steelers’ 2023 season, he didn’t exactly face stiff competition. If he does draw interest from other teams, it’ll be as a depth guy, just as it would be in Pittsburgh.
Leaving the comfort of what’s been his NFL home for the past four seasons doesn’t always equate to a better situation. He knows Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh knows him. That alone might be enough to weigh whatever options carefully but still return to where everybody knows his name.
