At the end of the 2023 season after a rather impressive stretch of play from quarterback Mason Rudolph, a handful of Steelers threw their support behind the veteran quarterback, making the case for him to return in 2024. Even head coach Mike Tomlin and team president and owner Art Rooney II stated their desire to see Rudolph return for 2024.
But one player took it a step further. Diontae Johnson seemingly made the case that Rudolph should return with the hope he’s the starting quarterback in 2024 for the Black and Gold, which raised some eyebrows. Of course, there was much debate over what Johnson actually meant with his comments because it wasn’t exactly clear what Johnson said specifically.
The debate regarding Johnson’s comments center on what he actually said versus what he is perceived to have said, that being “the job” or “a job” regarding Rudolph and his future in Pittsburgh.
A few weeks later, that comment from Johnson is still generating discussion, this time with former Steelers running back Merril Hoge. During an appearance on the 93.7 The Fan PM Show with co-hosts Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller, Hoge stated that players should be more focused on winning their job rather than trying to be in charge of decision making.
“That’s exactly what I would stop right away. That’s why I have a team meeting and I would establish who’s in charge of this and you’re not in charge, okay?” Hoge told Fillipponi and Mueller when asked how bringing back Rudolph would affect the locker room. “Players are not in charge of this. You’re in charge of competing and earning your own job.
“So I’d establish, ‘Hey, here’s what we’re gonna do,’ and if it’s gonna be a competition, I’d establish that and that we will let the players decide because they’re the ones competing and that we’ll make the final assessment, and the team won’t do that. So you got your own job to worry about.”
Hoge’s comments align with the ones team captain and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward made in the days following Johnson’s comments to the media.
“We can’t play GM,” Heyward said, after being read back a transcription of what Johnson is purported to have said, including the instead of a. “The players have to play, the coaches gotta coach, and we’ll see where we’re at. I don’t like—Kenny got hurt and it opened up a window for Mason to play. Mason played well in his time.”
“I don’t know what the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback [situation] is gonna look like,” Heyward added. “But we’ll see what happens. They’ve got to duke it out. They’ve got to find out what’s gonna go on moving forward.”
Chances are, Rudolph returns and finds himself in a competition with Pickett. Whether that’s an actual competition remains to be seen, but one thing has become clear throughout the entire situation with Rudolph and the Steelers: the players aren’t in the decision-making business. Johnson might have his preference for QB (again, we don’t know for sure what he said exactly), but he has to still go out there and do his job, no matter who is under center in 2024.
