I don’t know that there has ever been a more positive moment in Mason Rudolph’s career than that which he is experiencing now. Originally drafted as the potential heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he now finds himself in a backup role after spending nearly all of the past two years as a healthy scratch.
But while he had hardly gotten any “practice reps” as they’re called during that time, Rudolph was on the field plenty, running the scout team that the starting defense would prepare against each week. And after his first start in years, his teammates praised his work and his dedication to the craft of scout-team quarterback, DB Patrick Peterson crediting him for giving the defense “really good looks”.
“Mase is one of those bigger-body, statue-type quarterback that don’t mind pockets crashing down on him”, he said, via the team’s website. “I think he does a really, really good job of standing in the pocket and letting the receivers find those open pockets and holes in the defense. He’s been giving us a run for our money the last 16 weeks, and the Bengals happened to get it on live TV”.
A former third-round pick out of Oklahoma State, Rudolph did not have the career trajectory he envisioned. He spent most of his career as Roethlisberger’s backup before being demoted to third string behind Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky.
It was widely reported that Rudolph was not happy with how the team handled the quarterback position after Roethlisberger’s retirement, but there was little he could do about it. He basically admitted this offseason that he would rather have signed somewhere else if he could have, but he’s been all in since returning.
That’s a credit to him as a consummate professional, which is how he has been routinely subscribed for the better part of two weeks now that he is the center of attention. It’s hard to find anybody who doesn’t feel happy for him to finally get another opportunity and show what he can do.
And he merely led the Steelers to a 34-11 win over a division rival in a must-win game. He merely threw for 290 yards with two touchdown passes and multiple explosive-play completions on deep pass attempts.
Peterson was far from the only defender this week to rave about Rudolph’s efforts as the scout-team quarterback, either. “You can either go through the motions or you can really take advantage of it”, Cameron Heyward said of how Rudolph seized his role.
Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin also offered a glowing assessment. “When he’s out there, he’s out there trying to beat us”, he said. “He’s trying to make us better and that makes you better if you’re going against” a true competitor.
Of course, the glaring question with Rudolph is if he can have more than one good game. It seems likely that he will have the chance to prove it one way or another this week against the Seattle Seahawks. And if he does, it will also be a vote of confidence for the value of those scout-team reps.
