The Pittsburgh Steelers are still waiting to hear from Aaron Rodgers. This saga continues to drag on, leaving the Steelers with a lack of direction at the moment. Their quarterback room isn’t totally barren, though. They signed Mason Rudolph, bringing him back after a one-year stint with the Tennessee Titans. It looks like he’s going to be their backup, not the starter, but at this point, it feels like anything is on the table. Former NFL wide receiver James Jones believes the Steelers are in for a rude awakening if they start Rudolph.
“You need to go out here and get Russell Wilson,” Jones said Monday on FS1’s The Facility. “His locker’s already there. You know his helmet size and his cleats are already in his locker. You need him more. If you miss out and you’ve gotta go in there with Mason Rudolph or try to draft a guy in the second round or late first, the Steelers are in trouble.”
The Steelers don’t even have a second-round pick thanks to the DK Metcalf trade, so if they were going to draft a quarterback to start this year, they’d likely need to do it in the first round. That would not be ideal. This year’s quarterback class looks weak. If the Steelers miss out on Wilson and Rodgers, they might have to turn to Rudolph.
That might not be as bad as Jones makes it seem, though. While the Steelers’ offense is different now than when he was last here, Rudolph is familiar with Pittsburgh. He spent the first six years of his career with the Steelers. A lot of that wasn’t pretty, but near the end, he helped the Steelers make the playoffs.
Rudolph has a lot of flaws. He started five games for the Titans last year and went 1-4. Outside of his last few games in Pittsburgh, he hasn’t done much in the NFL. He’s more suited to be a backup, which isn’t a bad thing.
However, the Steelers have proved they can win with Rudolph. They’ve done it before, and that was in a worse offensive system. If the Steelers improve at running back, they could give Rudolph a quality supporting cast. Their offense would still be questionable, but they might not be terrible.
Realistically, there aren’t many options left that are better than Rudolph. Joe Flacco and Jameis Winston are some of the next best free agent quarterbacks after Rodgers and Wilson. Would they be significant upgrades over Rudolph? It’s tough to say. Jones is correct that the Steelers would probably be better off with Wilson over Rudolph, although none of their options under center look pretty.
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