Courtney Culbreath/Getty Images Mason Rudolph of the Pittsburgh Steelers drops back to pass against the Jacksonville Jaguars on August 20, 2022.
On Friday, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch appeared with The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan (Pittsburgh) and addressed all aspects of the team’s quarterback situation, including the notion that the Steelers should make rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett the Week 1 starter. That’s an idea that has been strongly endorsed by former Steelers cornerback (and new Steelers scout) Ike Taylor, who believes that head coach Mike Tomlin should “roll with Kenny Pickett.”
Batch describes his former teammate as “a heck of an evaluator,” but doesn’t agree with Taylor on that particular point.
“I just don’t think a lot of work has been done with the starting receivers and that’s been my issue, even from the beginning (of training camp). There hasn’t been a lot of time working with the starters,” said Batch, who went on to be more outspoken about the situation in which veteran backup Mason Rudolph finds himself. That is, no better than the No. 2 quarterback and in all likelihood the No. 3 for the 2022 season.
Charlie Batch: Mason Rudolph Should Ask to Be Traded
Pointedly, The PM Team of Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller asked Batch to try to put himself in Rudolph’s shoes, and to consider whether Tomlin could sell him on being third string and “a couple injuries away from getting in there.”
Batch said no, he wouldn’t buy what Tomlin is selling, as Batch imagines that Rudolph is wanting to show NFL observers that he’s more than people think.
He said if he was Rudolph he would go to new Steelers general manager Omar Khan and say: “Okay, you know I want to be here … but I also want to (jump) start my career. So … behind the scenes, I would be like, ‘Please get me out of here.’”
Never mind that any team that might trade for Rudolph would view him as a backup quarterback. It’s going to be exceedingly difficult for Rudolph to demonstrate that he’s an NFL starter, especially after the Steelers added three new quarterbacks during the offseason, namely Mitch Trubisky, a former No. 2 overall pick, as well as 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett and 2022 seventh-round pick Chris Oladokun, the latter of whom has already been waived.
“That right there lets everybody know that the Steelers aren’t comfortable with you,” said Batch, who knows a thing or two about being Pittsburgh’s No. 2 and No. 3 quarterback.
Recall that Batch came to Pittsburgh in 2002 after spending the first four seasons of his career as a starter for the Lions. Before his career ended in 2012, the former second-round pick (Eastern Michigan) appeared in 33 games for the Steelers and posted a 6-3 record as a starter, not unlike the 5-4-1 record authored by Rudolph.
Batch: Steelers Waiting for ‘An Offer You Can’t Refuse’
As to whether the Steelers will actually pull the trigger on a trade involving Rudolph, Batch believes it’s not especially likely, because Rudolph can serve as an insurance policy in case Trubisky and Pickett get injured behind Pittsburgh’s below-average offensive line.
He says a backup needy team like the Lions would “have to come in with an offer you can’t refuse,” because right now there isn’t a lot of incentive to move Rudolph, a 2018 third-round pick out of Oklahoma State.
On the other hand, it only takes one team to deliver a better-than-expected offer for the Steelers to say yes to a trade. That team could be the Panthers, as Carolina backup quarterback Sam Darnold suffered a high ankle sprain on Friday August 26 and is expected to be out four to six weeks, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Carolina has already lost rookie quarterback Matt Corral to a season-ending Lisfranc injury. That leaves the Panthers with Baker Mayfield and P.J. Walker — the latter a former undrafted free agent out of Temple — as the only healthy quarterbacks on Carolina’s roster.