The Aaron Rodgers re-signing in Pittsburgh has a downstream effect that the Steelers were already preparing for. Mason Rudolph might be the next quarterback on the move.
NFL insider Jason La Canfora reported this week that the Steelers could shop Rudolph at the end of preseason. The reasoning is straightforward. Rodgers is back as the starter. Mike McCarthy, who is on the Steelers’ coaching staff, reportedly thinks highly of Will Howard as the backup. That leaves Rudolph as the third quarterback on a team that is not going to keep three veteran quarterbacks on the active roster.
This is the kind of move teams make all the time. You have a roster crunch. You have a player whose role on your team has shrunk. You also have a market of other teams that need quarterback help and might be willing to part with a late-round pick to get a known veteran. You make the trade. You free up a roster spot. You stockpile a draft asset.
Rudolph has been with the Steelers since 2018, drafted out of Oklahoma State in the third round. He has been a backup, a starter when needed, and a steady professional. He won big games as a starter. He has had ups and downs. He is, at this point in his career, exactly the kind of veteran backup that good teams want on a depth chart.
The Steelers will not get a huge return. Veteran backup quarterbacks rarely command more than a fifth or sixth-round pick in trades. But the bigger value is the roster space. Cutting Rudolph would mean releasing him for nothing. Trading him means getting at least some compensation, even if it is small.
The team most likely to be interested is one that just lost a starter to injury or one that is heading into the regular season with serious quarterback depth concerns. The Browns, despite being division rivals, could theoretically be interested given their unsettled QB situation. The Vikings, with J.J. McCarthy still developing behind Kyler Murray, could use a veteran. The Saints, the Seahawks, the Raiders all have backup QB question marks.
For Rudolph personally, a trade might be the best outcome. He has been an emergency starter in Pittsburgh. He could be a true No. 2 somewhere else, with a chance to actually compete for a starting job if circumstances change. He is also entering the late stage of his career, and his market value is at a stable point right now.
The timing of any trade is going to be key. The Steelers can hold on to Rudolph through training camp to evaluate Will Howard and make sure the backup quarterback situation is solid behind Rodgers. Then, late in preseason, they can move Rudolph to the team that has the strongest QB need. That is the playbook. That is what La Canfora is reporting.
The Rodgers signing was the headline. The Rudolph trade speculation is the natural follow-up. The Steelers are not done reshaping their quarterback room. They just got the most important piece settled, and now the smaller pieces will fall into place over the next two months.
For now, Rudolph remains a Steeler. But the chances of him still being on the roster on Week 1 just dropped significantly. The path forward in Pittsburgh runs through Aaron Rodgers and Will Howard, and there is not really room for Mason Rudolph in that plan.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
