{"id":51704,"date":"2025-05-28T02:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T02:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51704"},"modified":"2025-05-28T02:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T02:22:13","slug":"breaking-qb-mason-rudolph-sends-strong-message-on-return-to-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51704","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: QB Mason Rudolph Sends Strong Message on Return to Steelers.."},"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-1184432823.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-1184432823.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1184432823.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1184432823.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Mason Rudolph\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"127\" data-dom-ready-time=\"174\" \/><\/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 quarterback Mason Rudolph shared with reporters Tuesday why he elected to return to the team that drafted him.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Quarterback\u00a0Mason Rudolph\u00a0experienced a difficult first tenure at times with the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers. But that didn\u2019t prevent the signal-caller from returning to the team that drafted him this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>On the first day of the voluntary offseason workouts Tuesday, Rudolph explained to reporters why he elected to come back to the Steelers in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just think it\u2019s a special place,\u201d Rudolph said,\u00a0via Steelers.com\u2019s Dale Lolley. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of great friends and teammates here, a lot of comfortability with Mike T (Tomlin) and the staff, and Omar [Khan] put together a great roster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want to be a part of this team and this offseason?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers drafted Rudolph at No. 76 overall in the third round of\u00a0the 2018 NFL Draft. He received the opportunity to start for an injured Ben Roethlisberger in 2019, but three years later, the Steelers buried the quarterback on the depth chart behind\u00a0Kenny Pickett\u00a0and\u00a0Mitch Trubisky.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph left the Steelers last offseason for\u00a0a one-year deal\u00a0with the\u00a0Tennessee Titans. This year, he agree to return to Pittsburgh on a two-year, $7.5 million contract.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Mason Rudolph Holds Familiar \u2018Unfamiliar\u2019 Role With Steelers<\/h2>\n<p>The Steelers began OTAs on Tuesday. For the first time in seven different seasons with Pittsburgh, Rudolph took first-team reps on the first day of those workouts.<\/p>\n<p>As of May 27, Rudolph sits at the top of the team\u2019s quarterback depth chart. The Steelers also have 2025 sixth-round pick\u00a0Will Howard\u00a0and 2022 seventh-rounder\u00a0Skylar Thompson at quarterback on the roster.<\/p>\n<p>NFL pundits, though, still expect the Steelers to sign\u00a0Aaron Rodgers. If that happens, Rudolph will slide into the backup role behind center.<\/p>\n<p>That gives Rudolph an unclear job for the 2025 campaign, but that\u2019s a position he is very used to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s nothing new to me. There\u2019s been constant noise,\u201d\u00a0Rudolph said of the Steelers possibly signing Rodgers or another quarterback to start. \u201cThat is the nature of the NFL. So I am used to that for a long time. Now, I\u2019m doing nothing but being the best I can be to help our team get better this spring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph had that kind of uncertainty a little bit with the Titans last season as well.\u00a0Will Levis\u00a0began the season as Tennessee\u2019s starting quarterback in 2024. Rudolph replaced Levis because of injury from Weeks 7-9.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph then started again when the Titans benched Levis in December.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran quarterback went 1-4 as a starter with Tennessee during 2024. Over his first six seasons with the Steelers, he posted a 8-4-1 record.<\/p>\n<p>In eight appearances last season, Rudolph completed 64% of his passes for an average of 6.7 yards per attempt. He also had nine touchdowns and nine interceptions.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Steelers Will Add QB Whether or Not Aaron Rodgers Signs?<\/h2>\n<p>According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s Gerry Dulac, the Steelers have had an offer on the table to Rodgers for roughly two and a half months. Yet, Pittsburgh is still waiting for an answer.<\/p>\n<p>NFL insiders, such as ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter,\u00a0have said Rodgers will likely sign before the team\u2019s mandatory minicamp begins on June 10.<\/p>\n<p>While on stage at a concert on May 23,\u00a0Rodgers delivered\u00a0cryptic messages that could be interpreted as he intends to sign with the Steelers. For other teams, he wasn\u2019t so nice.\u00a0Rodgers flat out stated\u00a0he wouldn\u2019t play for the\u00a0New Orleans Saints.<\/p>\n<p>But even if Rodgers doesn\u2019t sign with the Steelers, Pittsburgh may add a quarterback to replace Rudolph as the team\u2019s starter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had some conversations with people this week that led me to believe that Cousins is, at the very least, on the Steelers\u2019 radar if something were to fall through on Rodgers,\u201d Fowler\u00a0said on<em>\u00a0SportsCenter\u00a0<\/em>on Monday. \u201cCousins has $37.5 million in guarantees between this year and next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomebody\u2019s on the hook for that money, whether it\u2019s $4 million, $20 million, whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That money has reportedly been a sticking point in Cousins trade negotiations for NFL teams this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>So while Rodgers, and even Cousins, are likely targets for Pittsburgh, there\u2019s a possibility neither lands with the Steelers, and Rudolph remains at the top of the depth chart.<\/p>\n<p>Rudolph sounds ready for the opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph shared with reporters Tuesday why he elected to return to the team that drafted him. Quarterback\u00a0Mason Rudolph\u00a0experienced a difficult first tenure&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51704","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: QB Mason Rudolph Sends Strong Message on Return to Steelers.. - 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=51704\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: QB Mason Rudolph Sends Strong Message on Return to Steelers.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph shared with reporters Tuesday why he elected to return to the team that drafted him. 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