As of this writing, it is not known the precise injury QB Kenny Pickett suffered yesterday, nor the extent. Preliminary speculation indicates that the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback may have injured his MCL, with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk hopeful it is only a sprain.
With the team coming up in two weeks with a bye, there is a possibility that he doesn’t miss too much time. But for whatever time he does miss, the Steelers will have to turn to Mitch Trubisky as their answer. That’s not what former defensive lineman Chris Hoke would do, however.
“I think they need to go down a little deeper on that depth chart and bring up Mason Rudolph”, he said on the KDKA post-game show last night with Bob Pompeani, acknowledging that Trubisky would be the starter regardless of what he thinks.
“I’ve been saying this for two years, and I still think that Mason could arguably be the best quarterback on that roster”, he went on. “He throws a good deep ball. He showed when he started two years ago that he could throw the ball really well”.
As Steelers 2018 third-round draft pick, Rudolph has spent his entire career on the team, now in his sixth season. He tested the free agent market this offseason, but found no takers, and he re-signed shortly after the 2023 NFL Draft, accepting a firm number three role.
After sitting on the bench the entirety of his rookie season, Rudolph won the backup job in 2019, which happened to be the year QB Ben Roethlisberger’s throwing elbow deteriorated, causing him to miss all but the first six quarters of play.
He found himself suddenly thrust into the starting lineup, and fared reasonably well for himself initially. After missing time due to a concussion, however, his struggles exacerbated. He was eventually benched in favor of rookie undrafted free agent Devlin Hodges, though the reverse would later happen toward the very end of the season.
Rudolph did remain the backup to Roethlisberger until he retired following the 2021 season. After the Steelers signed Trubisky in free agency and then drafted Pickett, however, it was clear where things were headed. He was not pleased, and he expressed that passive-aggressively numerous times over the course of the year.
Regardless of what may have happened in the past, he is still under contract and still dressing for games. For as long as Pickett is sidelined, he will be no less than one snap away from taking the field, which he hasn’t done since 2021.
Hoke said that he doesn’t believe Rudolph’s perceived lack of mobility will be a big factor. “I see Kenny run the ball what three or four times the last two games and that’s about it”, he said. “To me [Rudolph] throws a nice ball, he has good command of that offense, he’s very mature. I say give the ball to Mason and see what happens”.
Of course, that’s not going to happen, unless Trubisky struggles significantly. But there is definitely a vocal minority of Steelers fans that would welcome that turn of events with open arms and who agree with Hoke that Rudolph could be the best quarterback on the roster.
