Mason Rudolph Hasn’t Requested Trade, Expects to Stay with Steelers
PITTSBURGH — With the NFL trade deadline approaching, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph said that he has not requested a trade from the team and doesn’t believe that one is imminent.
Rudolph has served as the team’s third-string quarterback and been inactive for all eight games this season after being the primary backup to Ben Roethlisberger over the last three seasons.
While Rudolph has not asked for a trade, he admitted that it remains possible that he could be dealt before the 4 p.m. Tuesday deadline. But Rudolph said if there’s a trade in the cards, the parties involved have kept it quiet from him.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Rudolph said. “I think typically, if something were serious or going to happen you would hear something from the team or the rumor mill. We’ll see, I don’t anticipate it. Crazier things have happened.”
The Steelers’ third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Rudolph was initially seen as a possible successor to Roethlisberger, but the team did not show faith in the 27-year old by singing Mitch Trubisky and drafting Kenny Pickett this offseason.
Trubisky won the team’s starting job out of training camp, but was replaced by Pickett in the middle of the team’s Week 4 loss to the New York Jets. Rudolph has publicly taken his demotion in stride, and said he’s been doing everything he can to help Pickett and the offense improve week to week.
“It’s definitely hard,” Rudolph said. “It test your will. But it’s adversity and I think it’s just about what kind of attitude you have.”
RELATED: Mason Rudolph Talks Trade Possibilities, Helping Team as 3rd String
Rudolph signed a one-year contract for the 2022 season that will pay him a total of $3 million in salary and a $1.04 million signing bonus. If the Steelers were to trade Rudolph, the salary would go with him to the acquiring team and the $1.04 million signing bonus would become a dead cap charge on Pittsburgh’s ledger.
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