The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the NFL’s most consistent franchises, both in their ability to win and the continuity within their organization. However, this offseason has shown that they’ll make changes if they need to, with the team bringing in a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith and completely overhauling its quarterback room. Kenny Pickett massively underperformed last year, as did Mitch Trubisky when he was asked to start, with Mason Rudolph being the best of the bunch, helping to rally the team down the stretch on the way to a playoff appearance.
With that kind of performance, it makes sense why the Steelers wanted to re-sign Rudolph, but there were reports that the team signing Russell Wilson caused Rudolph to feel scorned and decide to play elsewhere this season. On a recent episode of Dave Dameshek’s podcast Minus Three, The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly confirmed this report and broke down how the Steelers’ signing of Wilson created a domino effect.
“Mason wanted to sign back, they wanted to sign him back. He talked to them that Sunday afternoon and got some weird vibes,” Kaboly said. “Then as soon as Russell signed, or sent out his Renegade, it was almost instantly saying, ‘I’m pursuing other places. Obviously I’m getting disrespected. They don’t want me here, I’m going somewhere else.’ If Russell does not sign, does not send out the Renegade thing, it’s Kenny Pickett probably number one, Mason Rudolph number two right now.”
That certainly doesn’t paint the Steelers in the best light, as Kaboly’s description makes it sound like the Steelers went behind Rudolph’s back to sign Wilson after promising him he was in their plans going forward. It would be interesting to hear Rudolph’s point of view on this situation. It seems like he left Pittsburgh because he wanted to start, and yet, he signed with the Titans, who have a young quarterback in place as the starter. Did Rudolph believe he has a better chance beating out second-year man Will Levis in Tennessee, rather than an aging veteran in Wilson? The situation seems strange.
Kaboly could not confirm or deny the other part of that initial report that stated that Rudolph texted Pickett and expressed much of his frustrations with the Steelers, causing Pickett to request a trade. It’s fair to say that perhaps Rudolph earned a chance to fight for the starting job after his late-season performance last year, but nothing is saying he wouldn’t have gotten that with Wilson in town. Odds are high that he would have been in the same situation Justin Fields is in now.
Either way, the Steelers are going to be better at quarterback this year than they were last year. It’s the most important position in football, and none of the players in that room last year were getting the job done. Whether or not Wilson or Fields will start remains to be seen, but at least the Steelers made an attempt to improve at quarterback. Wilson is a former Super Bowl champion and Fields was good enough to get drafted 11th overall a few years ago. Betting on their potential is better for the Steelers than sticking with what they had.
