The Pittsburgh Steelers have found themselves in an unexpected quarterback controversy. With QB Kenny Pickett suffering a high ankle sprain that required surgery to speed up the healing process, Mason Rudolph has found himself as the team’s starter for the last two games. Rudolph had a great first start gaining 290 yards through the air on 17 completions. He sparked the offense and threw two big touchdown passes to George Pickens.
Even though all signs pointed to Pickett being healthy enough to play, Tomlin announced late in the week that the Steelers would continue with Rudolph for their Week 17 game. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger live streamed on YouTube during the game his Footbahlin’ podcast to discuss in real time and had some interesting comments about how the Steelers will proceed at quarterback.
“They will go back to Kenny,” Roethlisberger said when asked what would happen if Rudolph wins out and plays well. “This game is a business, and you drafted that guy in the first round. You are going to have to stick with him even if you don’t want to because you don’t want to quote-unquote ‘make that mistake’ of drafting him in the first round.”
This was said during the livestream before the first half, so it doesn’t reflect a full game of context on Roethlisberger’s part. It is still interesting to note, especially given how well Roethlisberger knows the Steelers and their decision makers.
“If you have a first-round guy at almost any position you have to give him every opportunity because if it looks like a bust and you didn’t make the right move, that looks really bad,” Roethlisberger said. “If Mason plays well and wins, he’s playing for him. He might get a contract from another team.”
Rudolph’s stellar play late in the season could certainly earn him a sizable contract in Pittsburgh or elsewhere. He signed a one-year contract this past offseason with the Steelers and was brought back to be the third-string quarterback. He was just that all season long up until Mitch Trubisky’s struggles earned him some starts in Pickett’s absence. Even if the Steelers want Rudolph back, it might be difficult to retain him, especially if they plan on continuing with Pickett next season as Roethlisberger suggests. Rudolph finished his second start of the season with 18 completions on 24 attempts for 274 passing yards. There were no touchdown passes or interceptions and he earned a 112.2 passer rating.
This doesn’t mean Roethlisberger expects Pickett to come back in Week 18, however. He said, “I don’t think there’s any question who plays quarterback next week,” toward the end of the game. That being said, if Rudolph leads this team into the playoffs as he is on track to do right now, there will be a lot of noise from the fan base and the media on their desire to see Rudolph be the Steelers’ quarterback entering the 2024 season.
