Steelers Never Negotiated With Mason Rudolph In 2024: 'No Official Offer On The Table, They Just Told Him To Sit Still'

The Pittsburgh Steelers needed what looked like a miracle with three weeks left to go in the 2023 season. The team dropped the ball in the game to the rebuilding Arizona Cardinals. They also fell to the New England Patriots in Bill Belichick's final visit to the city as the head coach of the team he led a dynasty with, and got whipped by the Indianapolis Colts. Ineffective play from Mitch Trubisky sent him to the bench in favor of Mason Rudolph for an all-important matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Rudolph delivered the best performances of his career for the team in the season's final three games to get the team to a 10-7 record and secure a Wildcard playoff berth. There were reports early in the 2024 offseason that Pittsburgh hoped to have Rudolph back for the 2024 season. Everything changed for the organization and Rudolph on the night of March 10th at 11:36 pm, when Russell Wilson posted on X that he was joining the Steelers.

Steelers insider for The Athletic Mark Kaboly joined The Joe Starkey Show on Wednesday to give his understanding of the events of that fateful weekend, where everything changed in regards to Pittsburgh and their quarterback plans. Starkey presented Kaboly with one version of how things went down, and he completely denied it. 

"Rudolph's representatives and Omar [Khan] were going to meet on Sunday to figure out where they were going to go with this," he said. "There wasn't a sense of urgency on the Steelers at that point. They basically told him to hold your cards a little bit here. Sunday night, 11:30, within three minutes of that Mason Rudolph says I'm not going back to the Steelers. There was no official offer on the table."

On March 13, Rudolph signed a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans, ending his six-year tenure in Pittsburgh. According to Kaboly, Pittsburgh still wanted to have 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett around at this point, but things had changed from his point of view. With Pickett wanting a change of scenery, the organization shipped him to the Philadelphia Eagles with a 2024 fourth-round pick and got back a 2024 third-round pick and a pair of seventh-round picks in 2025. 

After Pickett's exit, the organization completely revamped the quarterback room by acquiring Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears. The Steelers traded a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick for Fields, which can become a fourth-round pick based on his playing time. This move is almost unprecedented and marks a significant change for the team. The team has also added veteran Kyle Allen as the third quarterback on the roster. 

Steelers Are Taking A Leap Of Faith With New QB Room

Throughout the majority of Mike Tomlin's tenure as the head coach of the team, he had the benefit of working with a potential future Hall of Fame quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. Since the legendary signal-caller called it quits at the end of the 2021 season, he's been learning what life is like without a guy like that. Wilson has been a borderline Hall of Fame talent for parts of his career but his tenure with the Denver Broncos certainly didn't show that. 

Pittsburgh wants to win and put more points up on the board. After watching Matt Canada's offensive plan consistently keep Pittsburgh in the bottom tier of the league for the last three seasons, change to the unit was inevitable after his firing. Defensive stars TJ Watt and Cam Heyward aren't getting any younger, and the offense has been holding them back.

In steps Wilson, who turns 36 in November, to provide a spark. He might not be the superstar he once was with the Seattle Seahawks, but he had 26 passing touchdowns in 2023, double the touchdown output of Pittsburgh's group in 2023. He doesn't have to be great, just better than what was here before.