Leading into a pivotal offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in a precarious spot regarding the starting quarterback position.
Publicly, head coach Mike Tomlin and team president and owner Art Rooney II stated that Kenny Pickett will head into the offseason as QB1 and viewed as the starter, all while stating that the franchise will have competition for Pickett at the most important position in sports.
But internally, there might be differing views. That is, at least according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.
In a piece Saturday morning looking at the quarterback position entering the offseason, Dulac stated that it appears there is “internal division” within the franchise regarding who should be the starting quarterback entering the 2024 season, whether that’s Pickett or veteran Mason Rudolph.
“In fact, there appears to be some internal division that maybe Mason Rudolph should be the starter after the way he finished the 2023 season, winning the final three regular-season games to gain entry to the playoffs,” Dulac writes regarding the outlook at the quarterback position.
That doesn’t seem all that surprising, considering the way that Mason Rudolph closed the season for the Steelers.
Rudolph took over as the starter for the Week 16 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium and immediately led the Steelers’ offense to a season-best performance. Rudolph and the Steelers put up 34 points on the Bengals as Rudolph connected with wide receiver George Pickens for two long touchdowns and three total double-explosive plays through the air.
In Week 17 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks, Rudolph remained the starter and led the Steelers to a 30-point showing, again hooking up with Pickens — and this time Diontae Johnson — as the Steelers won again. Then, in awful conditions in Week 18 on the road against the Baltimore Ravens, Rudolph performed well, capping off the road win with a 70+ yard touchdown to Johnson in the rain.
After a season full of struggles offensively, Rudolph gave the Steelers a real spark, leading to some strong performances late in the season. He played relatively well in the playoff loss, too, though he did have a killer interception in the end zone.
But due to his performance late in the season, there appears to be some internal division regarding what the Steelers should do at starting QB entering 2024. There is a contingent that still believes in Pickett as a franchise-caliber quarterback. Tomlin and Rooney are up there in that camp.
But then, there might be guys less tied to Pickett that want to see Rudolph get a shot after his performance. Remember, many within the front office were hired after Pickett was selected in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft after GM Kevin Colbert retired.
For now, it appears the Steelers are going to stick with Pickett and give him a shot at a third year. The Steelers want Rudolph back in a big way, but they have to make that happen, and Rudolph has to want to return. But there definitely appears to be some internal division regarding who should be the Steelers starting quarterback.
It won’t be going away anytime soon, either.
