No matter what he does, Mason Rudolph will never be able to escape the most embarrassing moment of his career. Back in November of 2019 while starting a game for the Steelers against the Browns on Thursday Night Football, Rudolph was attacked by Myles Garrett.
Garrett even accused Rudolph of triggering the reaction by calling him a racial slur, a claim Rudolph emphatically denied and called a “bold-faced lie” at the time. To Rudolph’s credit, the NFL found no evidence to Garrett’s accusation.
Mason Rudolph Will Never Fully Shake the Incident With Myles Garrett
And ever since that faithful night in Cleveland, Rudolph, now 31, has been inundated with images of Garrett’s attack. Despite putting together a solid career as a serviceable backup, Rudolph will never be able to live down what happened on that Thursday night now seven years ago.
So Rudolph’s only option is to embrace it, and that’s exactly what he did when teammate Cam Heyward asked him a question about Garrett’s departure from the division during an episode of the “Not Just Football” podcast. After rolling his eyes, Rudolph then delivered a joke of his own while discussing Garrett no longer being on the Steelers’ schedule after his offseason trade to the Rams.
Rudolph Can Now Joke About Garrett’s Attack Years Later
“Off to a hot start here. As a Pittsburgh Steeler, I’m thrilled that he is no longer in the AFC North,” said Rudolph. “I think Mike McCarthy’s fired up about that, I think Brian Angelichio is fired up about that. I know our tackles are fired up about that. And the top of my frontal lobe, yes,” he joked.
But aside from avoiding Garrett, there’s no telling when or if Rudolph will get in a game at all in 2026. Currently penciled in as Pittsburgh’s expected first option if stater Aaron Rodgers would exit or suffer an injury, Rudolph knows his role as a veteran backup in a crowded Steelers quarterback room. Rudolph’s experience and rookie Drew Allar and Will Howard’s lack there of prompted McCarthy to keep four quarterbacks.
Rudolph appeared in five games in 2025, completing 73.1 of his passes and throwing for 310 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. In six NFL seasons, five of which have been with Pittsburgh, Rudolph has a 9-9-1 personal record, 4,925 passing yards, 30 touchdown passes to 20 picks and a cumulative completion clip of 64.4% with a quarterback rating of 84.7, just a tick above the 84.6 he posted when under center last season.
Mason Rudolph Delivers Funny Response to Myles Garrett’s AFC North Exit