The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent the bulk of the past five decades building their legacy through the NFL draft. They are widely regarded as among the best team builders through this means, including under former general manager Kevin Colbert.
But many of his final drafts are not looking so great as we move further along in time. With the Steelers recently releasing T Chukwuma Okorafor, for example, they currently have no players under contract for next season from their 2018 draft class.
That could change, of course. The 2018 class includes QB Mason Rudolph, who has spent his entire career with the team. He is an unrestricted free agent this offseason and should have a market, but the Steelers intend to re-sign him.
The fact that they also released Mitch Trubisky is a positive sign for those hoping the Steelers re-sign Rudolph. Trubisky spent the past two seasons ahead of him on the depth chart until he really had to play. Now they’ve determined that he is not worth being on their depth chart at all.
Rudolph started the final four games of the 2023 for the Steelers, including their Wild Card appearance. In that game and in the regular-season finale, Kenny Pickett dressed as his backup. He led them to three straight victories to close out the season and fought competitively in the playoffs.
In my personal opinion, I believe Rudolph re-signing with the Steelers is the most likely outcome. Bob Labriola writing for the team’s website shares the same opinion. That doesn’t mean he will be the starting quarterback, but he’ll have a chance.
Even if the Steelers don’t manage to re-sign Rudolph, they could keep a part of the 2018 draft class in a roundabout fashion. They elected to move on from first-round S Terrell Edmunds last offseason, but could they be interested in a reunion?
He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent last year, who then traded him to the Tennessee Titans. Playing out just a one-year incentive-driven contract, he is now a free agent yet again, and still young. He only turned 27 a few weeks ago.
The Steelers replaced him by re-signing Damontae Kazee and adding Keanu Neal in free agency. They made these moves while Edmunds remained available. General manager Omar Khan said last March that they offered Edmunds a contract, so they had interest.
The rest of that Steelers draft class, however, is currently out of the league. Second-round WR James Washington didn’t even make a practice squad in 2023. Nobody picked up fifth-round ILB Marcus Allen after the Steelers moved on from him last season. Fifth-round RB Jaylen Samuels last played in 2021. Seventh-round DT Joshua Frazier never made a team.
