Like Mason Rudolph, the Pittsburgh Steelers are right where we are: sitting at home being mad. Although they managed to make the playoffs in 2023, they lost in the first round. It has now been seven years without a postseason victory, the longest drought in franchise history. The question is what to do next.
The first step is always taking stock of what happened and what is left. That’s part of the exit meeting process, in which coaches meet with each player. They discuss the season and their expectations moving forward—and potentially their role within it.
While we might not know all the details about what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were let up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2023 season.
Player: Mason Rudolph
Position: Quarterback
Experience: 6 Years
In many ways, Mason Rudolph is probably the most interesting player on the Pittsburgh Steelers right now. And he is only guaranteed to be on the Steelers until the start of the new league year. He will be an unrestricted free agent for the second year in a row, but he has a much stronger body of work to show off this time around.
Opening the season as the third-string quarterback for the second year in a row, Rudolph ended up starting a playoff game. That’s quite a distance to travel from one end to the other. Kenny Pickett’s ankle injury in Week 13 opened the door.
Mitch Trubisky played the remainder of that game and started the next two, but failed to finish the second. The coaching staff grew tired of his struggles and opted to bench him in favor of Rudolph. The latter retained the starting job even once Pickett returned from his injury. Pickett dressed as Rudolph’s backup for the regular-season finale and for the Wild Card game.
In three starts, Rudolph went 55-for-74 passing for 719 yards and three touchdowns. He did not throw an interception during the regular season, but he had a backbreaking one against the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs. Looking to cut a 14-point lead in half, he got careless and threw an interception in the end zone. The Bills turned that into another touchdown on the ensuing drive to go up 21-0.
To his credit, he stayed poised and in the game and ultimately got the deficit to seven at 24-17. Then the defense slipped and let Buffalo put the game away. By that time, the wind had left their sails. The offense couldn’t get going on two final possessions.
But Rudolph showed that he belongs in the NFL in 2023 for those who doubted it. And given that nobody picked him up last year, he had his doubters. The question is how completely he has converted his skeptics. Does any coaching staff in the league view him as a potential starter? The Steelers indicated they want to bring him back to challenge Pickett for the starting job.
