It’s hard to come into the NFL as a player of pedigree without a certain level of self-assurance. You don’t make it this far without believing in yourself. But to expect to smooth sailing when that’s what you’ve been used to throughout your career can be just a touch naïve. Pittsburgh Steelers QB Mason Rudolph recognizes that now, which today makes him grateful for the tribulations of his 2019 season.
“When you’re going through it, everything from being thrown in and then getting knocked unconscious for a bit and some adversity later in the year in Cleveland and then being benched, it’s no fun”, he told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website. “It’s hell while you’re going through it. But when you take a step back and breathe and at 28 years of age, I’m just ultra thankful that it happened”.
A third-round pick out of Oklahoma State in 2018, Rudolph was drafted as the potential successor to Ben Roethlisberger, who would play for another four years. But not before tearing up his elbow in 2019, which thrust Rudolph into a starting role.
As he described above, things didn’t exactly go according to plan. While he largely put up capable numbers—he threw nine touchdown passes in his first five games versus three interceptions—the team still struggled. He was concussed in his third start, against the Baltimore Ravens, and missed the following week.
Eventually, following an awful game in Cleveland that ended with him taking his own helmet to his head courtesy of Browns DE Myles Garrett, he was benched the following week against the Cincinnati Bengals. He has not played a great deal since then. But he’s grown a great deal.
“Who wants to go through life and have no adversity and just always win? It teaches you lessons, and it prepares you for life after football”, he said, acknowledging that that season was “absolutely” his first real taste of professional adversity.
“High school was pretty much a breeze. It was fun. A little bit of adversity, but for the most part injury free”, he said. “And then I took over as a starter in college as a freshman. Looking back, it’s probably gonna make me better”.
After the 2019 season, he remained Roethlisberger’s backup for the next two seasons, making two starts during that time. After the retirement of Roethlisberger, he found himself the third-string option behind Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett, where he remained until Trubisky’s benching last week.
It’s hard to say what his future looks like right now, but he certainly helped make it brighter with his performance last week, the best quarterback performance for the team in years. He threw for 290 yards with two touchdowns and led the offense to 34 points, things that just didn’t seem to happen in Pittsburgh anymore.
Just a few months ago, it feels like, he was struggling to attract interest from other teams for even a veteran-minimum deal. He’s putting his name back on the market now and could potentially add to his worth if he gets the start again this week.
