Starting Mason Rudolph could prove to be a lose-lose scenario for Steelers
By Tommy Jaggi
Mason Rudolph could give the Steelers false hope moving forward
To be fair to him, Mason Rudolph has had a few good games early in his career. But for the most part, however, it hasn’t been pretty. While it seems like everyone should be cheering for him to light up the Browns defense this week, my ‘big picture’ mentality is not so sure if that’s what’s best for the team.
A great performance by Rudolph in Week 17 could give Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, and Pittsburgh’s coaching staff a sense of false hope for what he might be in the future. It could lead them to Ignore his past struggles and athletic limitations and give him yet another shot at being ‘the guy’ in 2021 and beyond. Worse yet, a great game by Rudolph could cause the Steelers to pass on trying to land a far more talented quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft – one that has significantly more upside.
Typically, it doesn’t take three years to figure out who a quarterback is going to be in the NFL, and Rudolph certainly did not show a lot of promise as a starter last season. Posting a great game against Cleveland could actually prove to be a bad thing for Pittsburgh’s future at the quarterback position if Rudolph doesn’t pan out as a starter.
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Obviously, resting some veterans (namely Ben Roethlisberger) this week is very high on Pittsburgh’s priority list. However, if this rest costs them the number two seed or makes them ignore addressing the quarterback position, I’m not sure if it will be worth it in the long run. Let’s hope this rest is exactly what Ben needs to make a dominant run in the playoffs.