The Pittsburgh Steelers currently have four quarterbacks, with likely only three roster spots for them. The possibility of keeping all four on the roster can’t be ruled out, but it would be hard to manage. Thus, the Steelers are going to have to make a tough decision about one of them, likely Will Howard or Mason Rudolph.
“I think we all kind of foresee some kind of IR move coming, or some type of practice squad move coming with Mason Rudolph, I would think come early September,” Steelers beat writer Ray Fittipaldo said Friday on 93.7 The Fan.
If there’s one of the four who’s going to be cut loose, it feels like Rudolph will be the choice. Obviously, the starter in Aaron Rodgers and this year’s third-round pick in Drew Allar aren’t going anywhere. That leaves Will Howard and Rudolph as two players fighting for one spot.
Rudolph does have previous success as a spot starter, and this is far from the first time he’s been in this type of situation. But Howard has a major advantage of youth and potential, which Rudolph simply doesn’t have. As the second of two veteran quarterbacks, it was always going to be an uphill battle with two youngsters in the room.
Had Howard played in the preseason last year, this decision might be easier for the Steelers. But he never took a snap, preseason or regular season, which puts the team in a tough spot. Mike McCarthy has continually praised Howard throughout the offseason. But he’s also had plenty of good things to say about Rudolph the last few weeks.
However, Howard still dominated snaps during offseason practices. He and Allar are the only two quarterbacks in the Steelers’ room in which the team doesn’t quite know what it has yet. Howard’s large workload should continue into training camp. And it feels safe to assume that Howard and Allar will dominate the snap counts in preseason games.
Rudolph’s best chance of making the roster is Howard underperforming. If Howard looks good in the preseason, it will be a big risk to try to put him on the practice squad, unless the Steelers have a sneaky IR move up their sleeve.
Even if the Steelers are able to sneak Mason Rudolph onto their practice squad it’s hard to imagine him staying there the whole season. As quarterbacks start to go down in the regular season, backup positions will open up across the league.
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