Former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick was a guest on The Cook and Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan earlier today, and Billick talked about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation. Billick raised questions about whether either Mason Rudolph, who started the team’s final three games and Wild-Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills, or Kenny Pickett, the team’s first-round pick in 2022, are really the team’s quarterback of the future.
It’s worth noting that Billick appeared on the show this morning before Mike Tomlin’s end-of-year press conference where Tomlin said Pickett will be viewed as the team’s starter moving forward but will face competition.
“I expected more of Pickett coming in, just because I think he was finishing well, and so I was excited to see how he was going to finish,” Billick said.
He talked about Bill Walsh’s theory that you know what a quarterback is after 25 starts, and with Pickett 24 starts into his NFL career, there’s a “legitimate question” whether he’s going to improve or if this is who he is as a quarterback.
“I think there’s some legitimate question as to whether to think all of a sudden now he’s gonna get better going forward. I think that’s a fair question,” Billick said.
Pickett only played a game and a half without former offensive coordinator Matt Canada, the man blamed for most of Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles who was let go ahead of Week 12. Pickett injured his ankle in the team’s Week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, but his performance for much of the season was shaky. He threw for 2,070 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions in 12 starts, and Pittsburgh’s offense was a weakness. Still, Pickett is going to have another shot as the Steelers’ starting quarterback next season.
As far as Rudolph goes, Billick said no one knows him better than the Steelers, and there’s a reason why he was QB3 for so long. He said if there’s any hesitation about whether he’s the answer going forward, he’s not the answer.
“He’s had all of 21 starts, all but sporadic. So you have enough information and you kind of use the blink principle. You blink and go ‘OK, yeah I think he’s the guy,’ or if there’s a hesitation in asking them can Mason Rudolph be the guy, if there’s a hesitation then you have your answer,” Billick said.
An important clarification is that Rudolph has just 13 career starts, not 21, although he’s appeared in 21 games with Pittsburgh. Still, the Steelers should know what they have in him by now all the same. If they think what he showed at the end of this season is what they’ll get going forward, they’ll look to bring him back and legitimately give him a chance to start. Mike Tomlin said in his press conference earlier today that the Steelers want to bring Rudolph back, so if they do bring Rudolph back, we’ll get a look at just how real the potential competition with Pickett is next season.
Billick thinks that Rudolph did enough to earn some money in free agency and that a team, even if it’s not Pittsburgh, will look to bring him in.
“I think he’s impressed people enough to say, yeah this guy looks like he’s got some potential playing in the league,” Billick said. “I don’t think anybody’s gonna come give stupid starter money or anything like that, but he’ll have an opportunity with someone.”
It’ll be interesting to see what Rudolph’s market looks like and if he ends up getting priced out of what the Steelers would be willing to pay, knowing they already have Pickett in tow. There are enough teams with quarterback questions around the league that a team could take a chance on Rudolph and at least put him in a competition as Pittsburgh would, but the question would become how much Pittsburgh would be willing to pay to do so.
The Steelers’ uncertain situation at quarterback regarding what they do with Rudolph and whether they’ll bring in other outside competition for Pickett will be one of the biggest storylines surrounding the team. Whatever they do, there’s little doubt that this team needs better quarterback play in 2024 to become a legitimate contender.
