The Pittsburgh Steelers brought in a brand new quarterback room during the 2025 NFL offseason.
Gone are Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. To replace them, the Steelers brought in Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph in free agency, while also adding Will Howard in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Along with those three signal callers, Pittsburgh also has Skylar Thompson on the roster.
With four quarterbacks in the room, the Steelers have a tough decision to make ahead of the regular season. Pittsburgh isn't going to carry four quarterbacks on its 53-man roster.
There are ways for the team to keep all four guys in town. Should that be the case, both Rudolph and Thompson would continue competing throughout the year for backup quarterback duties.
Obviously, Rodgers is the Steelers' starting quarterback. It's also reasonable to assume that Howard will be kept around after the team drafted him this year. That would leave Rudolph and Thompson fighting for the third quarterback spot.
Keeping that in mind, Rudolph received some potentially bad news following the team's preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers.
As shared by Andrew Fillipponi on X, Charlie Batch spoke out and shared his belief that Thompson could stay on the roster and even win the backup job. That would hint at Rudolph being sent out of town via trade, being the No. 3 quarterback, or being cut.
"I do believe that Skylar Thompson is in that conversation for the backup quarterback job with his play in the preseason," Batch said.
Mike Tomlin still has to make the decision, but Thompson did play well during preseason action. He completed 73.2 percent of his passes for 498 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.
Rudolph, on the other hand, threw for 166 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, while completing 78.3 percent of his pass attempts.
It's possible that Rudolph could still win a roster spot and Thompson could be on his way out of town. His familiarity with the Steelers could help him stick around.
Fans won't have to wait much longer to find out. Both quarterbacks could still make the roster, but Thompson winning the backup job would be a tough blow for Rudolph.
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