Sometimes the closer you are to something, the less objective your view becomes. That is often the case in sports where fans tend to overestimate the level of interest other teams might have in their own team’s players. We’re all guilty of this at times. My favorite incarnation is the inevitable half-dozen rookie free agents every year who have no choice of surviving waivers to make it to the practice squad. For every one that gets claimed, another dozen or more do not.
It also applies to free agents, however, and seems to be happening with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mason Rudolph. After starting four games at the end of the season and with an expiring contract, he is due to be a free agent. Some seem to think he will have a robust market. Others are not so convinced, like Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Include his former colleague, Ed Bouchette, in that group, who admitted he “broke out laughing out loud” when he heard 93.7 The Fan radio host Chris Mueller suggest Rudolph would fetch a three-year, $30 million deal on the open market.
“There’s no way. Half that, maybe”, he told Mueller’s co-host, Andrew Fillipponi, during an appearance yesterday. “There’s nowhere else in the league that is gonna give him the opportunity to start. Here at least he has the opportunity to compete to start”.
Of course, the debate is whether that’s actually true or not. Pittsburgh Masons fans believe Rudolph has been wronged and abused at every turn—many beat writers, to be fair, also take the same tone. Many are convinced he has never been given a fair shake and feel he should not trust the Steelers.
But Bouchette doesn’t think he has much choice but to take their word. “He has to. He went out there last year and he got nothing and he came back. I would trust it”, he said. He also believes Rudolph would be receptive to it. “His actions spoke late in the season that he was willing to do that”.
I’ve said this numerous times already, but Rudolph will be an interesting observation in free agency. It’s hard to know exactly what the market will be for a sixth-year veteran who hadn’t shown all that much in his first five years. After all, he was on the open market after his fifth season last year and was unsigned after the draft. Rudolph did claim that he had other opportunities.
Jacoby Brissett was the most expensive backup on a non-rookie contract in 2023 after signing a one-year, $8 million deal with the Washington Commanders. He was signed to challenge Sam Howell, a 2022 draft pick, for the starting job after playing reasonably well the year prior for the Cleveland Browns.
Taylor Heinicke signed a two-year, $14 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons last offseason to compete with another 2022 rookie, Desmond Ridder. Both of them lost those competitions. Next up was Tyrod Taylor, who just wrapped up a two-year, $11 million deal with the New York Giants. Could Rudolph be in this ballpark? Will Rudolph have the last laugh? And more importantly, where will he sign?
