The Pittsburgh Steelers would love to end up signing Mason Rudolph after the season’s last four games. His play impressed the team, and they have publicly declared their interest in getting him to return. But what would a contract like that even cost for the team if they made it?
Bill Barnwell of ESPN divided the free-agent quarterbacks into tiers. Rudolph ended up in tier six, and the average free-agent contract in that tier is $1.5 million annually.
“Dobbs and Rudolph are the most conspicuously productive players in this bunch, but there wasn’t much interest in Dobbs each of the times he came available in 2023. Rudolph’s brief burst of production was out of line with his prior career performance, and he is likely to re-sign with the Steelers,” Barnwell wrote.
It was a surprise season for Rudolph, who entered as the team’s No. 3 quarterback, only to take the reins after Kenny Pickett was injured and Mitch Trubisky was ineffective.
For a player that was a free agent last offseason, only to get no offers and return as the Steelers’ No. 3, the strong end of season play has likely opened up some doors to his continued employment in the NFL — and at a higher level than the veteran-minimum contract he played on in 2023.
But during his exit meetings with Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan, Rudolph said that both men expressed their interest in welcoming him back.
“Yeah, it was good. Visited with Mike T and Omar both and … it was so early, like three or four days after we played our last game, and there’s a lot neither side knows,” Rudolph said on the Ramon Foster Show. “I felt like they meant it when they said they’d like to have me back, and I feel like they want to do future business with me. That’s good to hear. But like you said, there are so many variables and it’s still so early, it’s still January, so who knows what will happen?”
Coming off the bench cold is tough, but Rudolph’s play inspired confidence in him from the staff. Tomlin hopes they can get Rudolph back due to his level of play. He played like a fringe starting quarterback in the NFL, and that was a higher level of play than Pittsburgh had received throughout the entire season.