Ben Roethlisberger was the reason the Steelers won as many games as they did in 2021. Take him out of the equation, insert Mason Rudolph, and they’re easily a sub-.500 team.
Rudolph will get into the nitty-gritty of his first offseason as QB1 for the Pittsburgh Steelers in just a few short months. He’ll get first-team reps, he’ll be “the man,” he’ll be the focus of the Steelers offense, he’ll be the first guy not named Ben Roethlisberger at the helm of the team in nearly two decades.
But even a full offseason as QB1 won’t magically make Rudolph good enough to be the face of Pittsburgh’s franchise. He just isn’t that type of quarterback. Rudolph doesn’t have that “it” factor. If he had, we would’ve seen a glimpse of what could be in his 10 career starts.
