A Proper Look at the Steelers QB Situation

 Happy Monday! After a flurry of deals in the NFL, I quickly was able to shout out Mason Rudolph in a very brief post on here. I thought today would be a good chance to brush up on the Steelers options at QB going into next season. With Najee Harris out and DK Metcalf in, the Steelers offense is guaranteed to look different next year. The question is will it be good? Whoever suits up at QB in 2025 is going to have a lot of say in answering that. Lets look at the options: 

Mason Rudolph

Love him or hate him, Mason is currently the best quarterback on the Steelers roster. We saw some fun stuff with Mason Rudolph over his first tenure in Pittsburgh. In 2019 when Roethlisberger went down with an elbow injury, Mason was called upon and performed decently. As a young QB, he had a pretty poor pocket presence but a big arm that threw a pretty nice deep ball. He made some mistakes but overall didn't completely kill you out there. All of his progress was lost when he got a concussion after taking a massive hit that knocked him out cold. In the next few seasons Mason was used sparingly as a backup QB, sometimes to a band of other misfits like Kenny Picket or Mitchell Trubisky. In his last season in Pittsburgh, 2023, Mason replaced Kenny Picket as the starter for the final 3 games and he delivered. In 3 starts Rudolph went 3-0 completing 75% of his passes for 239 yards per game with 3 TDs and 0 picks. He definitely outplayed the entire season of Kenny Picket and Mitchell Trubisky, an extremely low bar but something to point out. Last season in Tennessee Rudolph was called on for 5 starts and they weren't as stellar as the previous season in Pittsburgh. Rudolph went 1-4 in those starts with 7 TDs and 8 picks. though it should be noted his stats were pretty similar to starting Titans QB Will Levis. 

Overall, Mason's job as a starter has been a mixed bag. There's a reason he's been a backup QB his entire career to this point, and I think he's really solid at that role. He has a big arm to make the big play, he doesn't try to do too much and he's shown no matter where he is on the depth chart he's always ready to come in and do what he can do. He also still has a poor pocket presence, not a ton of athleticism and a firmly average passer rating of 85 in 29 games in his career. I think if this is your QB2 entering a season you're feeling pretty comfortable with your QB situation. If this is your undisputed QB1 entering the season, you're probably in a bit of trouble. All things considered, you'll see by the other names on this list that there's not really a long term answer at QB available this offseason barring a massive surprise. To me Mason Rudolph is a perfectly acceptable bridge QB, though expectations shouldn't be through the roof if this remains. 

Aaron Rodgers

Probably the most talented remaining QB on the market but also the most enigmatic. As of today the most recent reports are that Aaron Rogers wants to play in Minnesota. I think this would be hilarious only because his predecessor in Green Bay, Brett Farve, left the Packers to play with the Jets, it went poorly, he left the Jets to join the Vikings before finally retiring for good. If Rogers follows the same path that'd just be fun. Anyway, Rogers had the worst season of his career last year at age 41 coming off an Achilles tear. Even so, he had a better season than Mason Rudolph has ever had in the NFL which is pretty funny to think about. The talent with Rogers is clearly in decline and if you are to sign him you're hoping to wring 1 more winning season out of him before he's fully cooked, but if you're a team like Pittsburgh with some solid weapons in place it could be the perfect place to watch that play out. 

The real problem with Rogers isn't what he can do on the field but what he brings off the field. Rogers has some questionable politics and beliefs that tend to upset some people. I'm not sure if it's just the fans on Reddit upset about these things or if it actually leaks into the lockeroom, I do know though that it probably will be a bit of a headache to follow. He was tasked with turning the Jets organization around and it quickly turned into the Aaron Rogers show with him attempting to orchestrate trades and overall seemingly failing as a leader. Oh yeah I should also mention, Rogers has said that if he can't get a job with the Vikings he's going to retire rather than play for the Steelers, so there's that to contest with as well. There are definitely worse options talent wise than even a 42 year old Aaron Rogers, but is the headache worth it? Personally I don't think so but I also wouldn't be as pissed as the Reddit fans if the Steelers went down this route. 

Russell Wilson

I really think people are low on Russ coming back only because of how the season ended last year, but Russ was perfectly fine as the QB in Pittsburgh. You could even argue that Wilson had a better year last year than Rogers did. After seeing Wilson for a whole season I can say that he does have a beautiful deep ball. With now 2 big possession receivers, having a QB that can throw up a nice rainbow for a big play would be pretty beneficial. I can also say after watching him for a whole season that at this stage of his career that's pretty much all Wilson's got in his bag. There were plenty of times, especially against the good teams where Wilson looked one dimensional as the Steelers offense couldn't score a lick. At this stage of his career, Russ is undoubtedly a mid QB. He doesn't make a ton of mistakes and he has the big play ability but he also doesn't will you to wins and at times can frankly look really bad. By all accounts Wilson is a good guy who's teammates and coaches like him, he likely won't cost a ton and is arguably the best fit of these 3 with the 1-2 punch at WR in Pittsburgh. This is the QB I am hoping for if we're doing a bridge QB again despite the fact that it will be boring and we likely know how the season will end. 

Draft a QB? 

Look, I don't even know any of the QBs available in this draft and Reddit tells me it's a trash draft for QBs but unless they draft a guy, the long term option at QB will not be found this offseason. I'm a big believer that QB is the biggest crapshoot in the draft every season. The Browns had a high pick for decades and burned it on the wrong guy time and time again. The same could be said for the Bears, most notably taking Mitch Trubisky second overall in 2017, the same draft Mahomes went at 10. Random guys pop off and show they're better than people thought coming out of college all the time. The most recent Superbowl MVP Jalen Hurts was picked in the second round as the 5th QB taken in his respective draft. The reigning MVP was picked 7th after Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield while the MVP runner up and the previous season's MVP Lamar Jackson was picked 30th overall in that same draft. Basically what I am trying to say is while people don't have big expectations at QB for this draft, people have been proven time and time again to not know anything. I don't expect the Steelers to draft their game 1 starter this off season, but I wouldn't be shocked if they took someone who eventually takes over and gets a shot. 

And that's that! Not exactly some stellar and exciting options for the Steelers to go with, but I'll have fun watching whoever it is. Will be back tomorrow to talk about some of these other NBA teams that are playing great to take a little break from my annoying tanking Raptors lol. As always, go Steelers!