In the morning, Mike McCarthy disputed any recent reports suggesting the Steelers have made a decision about how many quarterbacks to keep going into the season. And then by Monday afternoon, one of those quarterbacks spoke candidly about his view of the situation.
Well aware that he could be Pittsburgh’s main backup option, but he also could end up as the odd man out, veteran Mason Rudolph opened up about his mindset knowing he will learn his fate in the coming days.
“I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve had a good camp,” said Rudolph to reporters while assessing his own performance in practice and his lone preseason game appearance. Rudolph completed 10-of-11 passes for 93 yards in the Steelers’ 28-9 preseason opening win over the Green Bay Packers on August 13th. McCarthy then said he saw enough from Rudolph and let his two young recent draft picks, Drew Allar and Will Howard, play last week when Pittsburgh suffered a 17-0 defeat to the New York Jets.
“I like the way the offense is evolving and trending. Aaron’s [Rodgers] had a lot of input. Coach [Mike] McCarthy has a ton of great concepts and has worked hard with the instillation process,” added Rudolph, touching on his view of the offense as a whole.
McCarthy’s decision is both simple in some ways, but extremely complicated in others. It’s down to either keeping all four quarterbacks, at least through Week 1, or making one the odd man out.
Entering the season with four quarterbacks on the main roster would be a way to kick the can down the road, at least briefly. That choice would only be able to be temporary and would have to lead to one being demoted to the practice squad, likely Howard since McCarthy has previously dubbed Allar his project, finding a reason to place one on injured reserve.
The other option is to cut one and simply retain the usual NFL standard of three. Doing that may also result in trying to trade one, but the return value is in question.
McCarthy’s Mindset About His QB Room is Becoming Clear
But reading into what McCarthy has said throughout training camp, his mentality seems clear: any choice that leads to Rudolph not being on the Steelers come Week 1 would be the riskiest play of them all. It would leave him with only two inexperienced options behind 42-year-old Aaron Rodges.
So even though Rudolph may be a career backup, that may also be what the Steelers need if they have to look beyond Rodgers at any point. Rudolph has shown he can win games if called upon – he’s 9-9-1 in his career and saved the 2023 season by going 3-0 to lead Pittsburgh to the playoffs.
Aaron Rodgers Needs to Stay Healthy for the Steelers to Contend
In all reality, Rodgers, who did complete 65.7% of his passes and throw for 3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns to only seven interceptions in 2025, missing significant time will likely derail any shot the Steelers have to contend in the AFC North. However, turning to a quarterback who has been through the fire in the past provides McCarthy more comfort and security than having to rely upon a young recent draft pick who has yet to take a regular season snap in the NFL.
Mason Rudolph Reveals Mindset Waiting for Steelers’ QB Decision