Tag: mason rudolph

NFL analyst provides context of the Steelers QB madness

One analyst deemed the Steelers an “unserious” franchise because it their quarterback situation.

There are few people in the arena of football data and analytics who do their job as well as Warren Sharp. So when Sharp took to Twitter to offer some inside and some perspective on the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation, we paid attention.

First up, Sharp offered up a rather damning piece of evidence about the Steelers passing offense since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. No team has fewer passing touchdowns since that point than Pittsburgh. This has been a motley crew of players from Mitch Trubisky to Duck Hodges along with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph.

Sharp then uses that data to offer a brief, albeit scathing editorial about the team. The Steelers are reportedly choosing between Rudolph and Pickett to be the starting quarterback in 2024.

It really does feel like the Steelers are missing the big picture when it comes to the quarterback position. Trying to make do with two quarterbacks who have proven almost nothing in the league doesn’t feel like a franchise with a goal of even winning a playoff game, much less a Super Bowl.

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Ranking 2024’s top 12 free-agent quarterbacks

Here are the top 12 quarterbacks who are about to hit the open market

The Carolina Panthers certainly won’t be on the lookout for a quarterback this offseason—at least as far as their main roster is concerned. But let’s rank the ones who are about to hit the open market anyway.

Here are the top 12 free-agent quarterbacks of the 2024 offseason:

Steelers urgency to re-sign Mason Rudolph even greater now

Mason Rudolph has the Steelers right where he wants them: A little on the needy side. 

Mason Rudolph has the Pittsburgh Steelers right where he wants them: A little on the needy side.

The Steelers are right back to where they were after Ben Roethlisberger finally retired: Without a quarterback they’re confident can be the new face of the franchise. Kevin Colbert thought he had Pittsburgh set up for success after he retired—a veteran starter in Mitch Trubisky and a young and eager rookie in Kenny Pickett. One is no longer with the team and the other is heading into a make-or-break third season.

That’s where Rudolph comes in. 8-4-1 as a starter is a solid record he (and the Steelers) should feel good about. He’ll have to learn and adjust to the new system Arthur Smith is implementing, but his familiarity with the digs should help that process along. There are worse options for both parties.

Still, Rudolph’s best chance to take the field in 2024 is with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Injury-prone Pickett hasn’t played a full season, and there’s no reason to think he suddenly will going forward. Backing up in the same place he has since he was drafted probably isn’t his ideal scenario, but if he wants to play, Pittsburgh is where it’s at.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Gerry Dulac, who’s been covering the Steelers longer than some of you reading this have been alive, is convinced the team is not bringing in a veteran starter. He is apparently as close as a reporter can get to team president Art Rooney II, and while he’s occasionally been wrong about assertions in the past, this doesn’t seem like one of them.

“In any event, the Steelers are not interested in bringing in a quarterback who wants to be a starter,” Dulac wrote on Feb. 17. “That would include Justin Fields and Kirk Cousins, and probably even Russell Wilson, who has a connection with the Steelers. They are committed to giving Pickett a third season to see if he is the guy to do more than just win a playoff game — something they haven’t done in a franchise-record seven years.”

If all the fantasizing about Justin Fields and Kirk Cousins is just that, Pittsburgh’s top priority should be ensuring Rudolph doesn’t go anywhere. Next should be hoping Pickett can develop into the first-round quarterback they drafted him to be.

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Steelers insider says front office divided on starting quarterback for 2024

It sounds like it will be Pickett vs Rudolph for the starting job in 2024.

According to Pittsburgh Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac, the notion that the team is unanimous in supporting Kenny Pickett as the starting quarterback in 2024 isn’t quite true. Dulac noted there is an internal division over whether Pickett is the answer or if the team should go with Mason Rudolph instead.

The Steelers turned to Rudolph after Pickett suffered a high ankle sprain and veteran Mitch Trubisky failed to replace him. Rudolph won his final three starts of the regular season which helped Pittsburgh sneak into the playoffs. Rudolph also started against the Buffalo Bills

If this is the case, there is some business to take care of before it would really matter. Rudolph is set to be an unrestricted free agent in just two weeks and after his strong finish to 2023, he should have some suitors.

Dulac also noted that it feels less and less likely to pursue any other free-agent quarterbacks if the team is willing to re-sign Rudolph and let him and Pickett battle it out for the starting job.

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Steelers insider contemplates Mason Rudolph’s future in Pittsburgh

Mason Rudolph’s options outside of the Steelers could be pretty limited.

Mason Rudolph reportedly hopes to parlay his 3-0 record as a starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers last season into a fresh start with a new club in 2024. But it might not be that easy. After all, Rudolph doesn’t have the luxury of picking where he goes and his options will be limited.

Either way, it’s an intriguing storyline to watch, said Brooke Pryor, Steelers insider for ESPN.

“At this point, I think it’s kind of up in the air,” Pryor said Wednesday on the Two on OSU podcast.

Steelers President Art Rooney II already stated he’d like to see Rudolph back in the black and gold, but it could just be lip service.

“I’m so intrigued to see what the Steelers do because I think that they would like to bring Mason Rudolph back, but I don’t know how Mason fits in Arthur Smith’s new system.” Rudolph does his best work in the pocket, and Smith’s system requires a more athletic, mobile quarterback.

Rudolph might also still feel the sting of what Mike Tomlin touted as an open competition in 2022. Several Steelers beat writers who covered that season’s training camp witnessed Rudolph outperforming Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky only to wind up third in the pecking order.

“I’m interested to see if Mason wants an opportunity to prove himself somewhere else because of the rollercoaster that he has been on throughout his career in Pittsburgh when there was essentially an open quarterback competition between Pickett and Trubisky, and Rudolph was supposed to be in the mix,” said Pryor.

“But as we know, it was kind of, I hate to say, a sham competition, but it was pretty much known the whole time that it was going to be Trubisky, Pickett, and then Rudolph.”

There are so many unknowns in the future at quarterback for Pittsburgh. Pickett is currently the lone signal caller on the roster, with offseason workout programs just two months away. A lot can and will happen between now and then, including the big ticket event of NFL free agency on March 13. Rudolph will test the waters of free agency for the second time in as many years, and the Steelers, in turn, might go in a different direction.

Although Rudolph did a decent job at boosting his stock with three wins to close out the Steelers’ 2023 season, he didn’t exactly face stiff competition. If he does draw interest from other teams, it’ll be as a depth guy, just as it would be in Pittsburgh.

Leaving the comfort of what’s been his NFL home for the past four seasons doesn’t always equate to a better situation. He knows Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh knows him. That alone might be enough to weigh whatever options carefully but still return to where everybody knows his name.

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Pros and cons of the Steelers top veteran QB options

Here are some of the Steelers most popular options for a veteran QB.

As free agency approaches, it really feels like the Pittsburgh Steelers are not going to be content with Kenny Pickett as their starting quarterback. Removing the 2024 NFL draft from the equation for now, here is how the top veteran options break down.

5 things QB Mitch Trubisky’s release means for the Steelers

Things that Mitch Trubisky’s release does and could signal for the Steelers.

The Mitch Trubisky experiment in Pittsburgh was a complete and utter failure. One of the final quarterback-related moves made by the previous administration — general manager Kevin Colbert — is now in the past. As the team looks to its future, here are five things that Trubisky’s release does and could signal for the franchise.

2024 NFL draft: 4 developmental QB prospects for the Steelers to consider

Here are four interesting quarterback prospects the Steelers could bring in.

The latest report going around is that the Pittsburgh Steelers are considering free-agent quarterback Ryan Tannehill due to his connection with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. If the Steelers choose to release Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph signs elsewhere, there is a spot on the depth chart for a rookie developmental player.

Here are four prospects for the 2024 NFL draft for the Steelers to consider. These are guys grade out from the 6th round on and most would be considered UDFA prospects.

Steelers QB Mason Rudolph looking forward to a fresh start

The Steelers could be down two quarterbacks from last season.

According to the NFL Network, the Pittsburgh Steelers could be without two of the three quarterbacks that were on the team in 2023. They talked about several of the interesting quarterback situations across the league this offseason and the Steelers quarterback situation is one of the most interesting.

They speculate about the team releasing veteran Mitch Trubisky to save salary cap and we couldn’t agree more. They note the bonus situation but releasing Trubisky with a post-June 1 designation, it saves the Steelers more than $5 million against the cap.

But the bigger conversation is about Mason Rudolph. Rudolph was the best quarterback on the roster in 2023. He stepped in to replace Kenny Pickett and played well enough to earn a new contract. But as they noted,  Rudolph is looking for a fresh start and hoping to parlay this success into a contract somewhere else. With new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in place, it is hard to say if they will even consider Rudolph in Pittsburgh.

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