Bringing back beloved backup QB Mason Rudolph was a prudent move by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it definitely shouldn’t be their only move. After securing the best one-two punch at wide receiver that the team has had in years, it would be a shame to hand that over to a player entering his eighth NFL season with just 18 starts.
Yet all the recent reporting surrounding the Aaron Rodgers situation seems to indicate the Steelers are willing to move in another direction if Rodgers doesn’t want to come to Pittsburgh, and Rudolph appears to be their top choice.
“I personally don’t like them fawning over Aaron Rodgers, but I do think they’re willing to wait. It’s just troublesome that there’s a potential Mason Rudolph could be leading this team onto the field next season when you especially have Russell Wilson waiting in the wings,” former Steelers OL Willie Colon said via FS1’s Breakfast Ball. “However, with that said, do I believe they’re gonna get it right? I’m with you. They have a way of figuring out what’s best for them. So they are gonna draft a quarterback, I think they’re willing to wait for Aaron Rodgers, but I could also see them signing a Carson Wentz.”
They are referencing Darius Slay’s comments on his Big Play Slay podcast yesterday where he said he trusts the Steelers to make the right call at quarterback and he wouldn’t have signed in Pittsburgh if he didn’t trust that.
The Steelers have a long track record of doing whatever is best to give themselves a chance to compete in the current season. Mike Tomlin often says his guys work too hard for the Steelers to not to give every season their all. There is no such thing as tanking or strategically engineering a down year for the potential of a better future in Pittsburgh. Colon, and Slay, are both probably right in that regard. It would surprise me if they walk into the season with Rudolph as QB1.
If they do, I would imagine they trade George Pickens prior to the season. And if they do that, then you more or less are talking about one of the very few examples of the Steelers orienting their strategy around the future rather than the present. I will believe it when I see it, but I don’t expect that to be the case.
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