{"id":48019,"date":"2025-05-14T02:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T02:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=48019"},"modified":"2025-05-14T02:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T02:27:14","slug":"breaking-steelers-lb-sends-strong-message-on-mason-rudolph-qb-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=48019","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Steelers LB Sends Strong Message on Mason Rudolph, QB Situation.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1913265001.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1913265001.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1913265001.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1913265001.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Mason Rudolph Nick Herbig\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"663\" data-img-load-time=\"1497\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Nick Herbig delivered a message on Mason Rudolph and the team&#8217;s quarterback depth entering offseason workouts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There aren\u2019t a lot of NFL pundits excited about the prospects of quarterbacks\u00a0Mason Rudolph\u00a0or\u00a0Will Howard\u00a0potentially starting for the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0during the 2025 season. But don\u2019t include Steelers edge rusher\u00a0Nick Herbig\u00a0in that group.<\/p>\n<p>Herbig expressed\u00a0confidence in who the Steelers have on their quarterback depth chart while appearing on\u00a0<em>The Not Just Football Podcast<\/em>\u00a0with Cameron Heyward on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, Tom Brady was sixth round, right? [We] got a Big Ten guy, Ohio State guy. We got [Mason] Rudolph. He\u2019s always in the gun, in the slinger. We got options,\u201d\u00a0Herbig told Heyward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got options. I like our options right now. I do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heyward notably agreed with Herbig, also saying he liked the team\u2019s options.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers have added three quarterbacks to their roster this offseason with Rudolph, Howard and\u00a0Skylar Thompson. In NFL free agency, the Steelers parted with\u00a0Russell Wilson,\u00a0Justin Fields\u00a0and\u00a0Kyle Allen.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph agreed\u00a0to a two-year contract to return to Pittsburgh after leaving for the\u00a0Tennessee Titans\u00a0last offseason.\u00a0The Steelers selected\u00a0Howard at No. 185 overall in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Nick Herbig, Cameron Heyward Confident in Mason Rudolph, Will Howard<\/h2>\n<p>Heyward, along with fellow podcast guest and Steelers defender\u00a0Keeanu Benton, laughed at Herbig\u2019s response to Heyward\u2019s question about the team\u2019s quarterback situation. Heyward also commented that the Herbig and Benton \u201chave learned\u201d when it comes to answering questions from the media.<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, it\u2019s worth wondering how genuine Herbig\u2019s answer was. It\u2019s also very possible the podcast edited Herbig\u2019s answer to Heyward\u2019s question.<\/p>\n<p>Still, there\u2019s likely at least some truth to Herbig\u2019s response.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph struggled with the Titans,\u00a0posting\u00a0a 1-4 record as a starter and throwing nine touchdowns with nine interceptions in eight games. He also had 1,530 passing yards while averaging 6.7 yards per attempt.<\/p>\n<p>But Steelers players are very familiar with Rudolph. The veteran quarterback led Pittsburgh to three consecutive victories to end the 2023 season, which clinched a playoff berth for the team.<\/p>\n<p>That gave Benton and Herbig their first NFL playoff experience. The Steelers added both defenders, who each played at Wisconsin,\u00a0as part of the 2023 class. The team selected Benton in the second round while grabbing Herbig in the fourth.<\/p>\n<p>Comparing Howard to Tom Brady is obviously a stretch. That\u2019s the comparison pretty much everyone makes whenever a quarterback goes off the board in the sixth round.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0New England Patriots drafted Brady at No. 199 overall in the sixth round during the 2000 draft.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not surprising Herbig and Heyward are excited about what the rookie signal-caller could potentially do.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Heyward\u2019s Previous Comments on Aaron Rodgers<\/h2>\n<p>The Steelers defenders avoided talking about\u00a0Aaron Rodgers\u00a0when Heyward presented the team\u2019s quarterback room as a topic. But Heyward previously addressed the possibility of Rodgers playing for the Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ain\u2019t doing that darkness retreat,\u201d\u00a0Heyward said on his podcast on March 18. \u201cI don\u2019t need any of that crap. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don\u2019t. That\u2019s simple, that\u2019s the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want me to recruit, that\u2019s the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers if you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don\u2019t, no skin off my back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heyward gave that answer to a question about what the pitch was to convince Rodgers to come to Pittsburgh.\u00a0The Steelers defensive captain provided a somewhat different answer to a pitch for Wilson last year.<\/p>\n<p>Heyward, though,\u00a0tried to walk back his comments on Rodgers\u00a0within a few days after making them.<\/p>\n<p>To avoid any further controversy, Heyward and his teammates rightfully avoided Rodgers as a topic Tuesday. Instead, they focused on the positives of what the team already has behind center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Nick Herbig delivered a message on Mason Rudolph and the team&#8217;s quarterback depth entering offseason workouts. There aren\u2019t a lot of NFL&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Steelers LB Sends Strong Message on Mason Rudolph, QB Situation.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=48019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Steelers LB Sends Strong Message on Mason Rudolph, QB Situation.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Nick Herbig delivered a message on Mason Rudolph and the team&#8217;s quarterback depth entering offseason workouts. 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