It’s possible the Steelers have located their quarterback of the future. At least, they’re making a reasonable investment in one.
The Steelers have traded up to the No. 76 draft slot and selected Mason Rudolph. The Seahawks are trading down to allow for this to occur. Seattle will acquire Pittsburgh’s No. 79 choice and a seventh-rounder, No. 220, per Brady Henderson of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Viewed by many as the sixth-best quarterback prospect in this year’s prospect pool, Rudolph is the sixth QB selected. He’s also the first passer the Steelers have chosen in the first three rounds since Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. Pittsburgh used a 2017 fifth-rounder on Joshua Dobbs and still has Landry Jones on the roster.
The 6-foot-5 Rudolph put up monster numbers last season with Oklahoma State — 4,904 air yards, 37 touchdown passes and a 65 percent completion rate — and represents a move by the AFC North champions to install a possible Roethlisberger successor. Rudolph started for three seasons in Stillwater, Okla., operating in a passer-friendly system. He figures to have plenty of time to learn the pro game.
Unlike last offseason, Pittsburgh’s 15th-year starter did not publicly consider retirement. He’s now indicated he wants to play multiple additional seasons. Rudolph figures to be a longer-lens investment and could usurp Jones and Dobbs in Pittsburgh’s passing pecking order in the months to come.
Great pick…
1) He could be their starter one day.
2) He should be a better backup than Landry Jones and (last year aside) Ben misses a few games each year. Winning those is important.
3) Sports talk radio in Pittsburgh just got a gift. I was hoping they’d get either Guice or Rudolph just to hear the fan reaction, debate, angst, etc.
I doubt Pittsburgh was thinking about their sports talk radio stations when they traded up. But, for sure they needed a QB that could be groomed as Ben’s successor.
I’m not fond of Oklahoma State QBs. Gundy’s pass first, pass again, pass some more, and then the defense knows when you’re running the ball because the halfback does a cartwheel coming out of the huddle system is nice for college but hardly produces many quality NFL starters.
In case you haven’t noticed, the pro game is going away from run heavy offenses and they pass a lot too. Also, since defenses expect the pass so much and knew they could ignore the run, how come they could not stop Rudolph since they knew he was passing?
Didn’t realize this last night but the two picks in between 79 and 76 were both owned by the Bengals, so the Steelers must have believed Cincy would take him.
Only one team had to pass on him for them to stay pat but they clearly didn’t think they would pass on him.
Just FYI, Andy Dalton.