It seems these days that everything is up for debate. You could tell someone the grass is green but they could still argue couldn’t they? No one is willing to just accept things as they are which brings us to the Pittsburgh Steelers and their quarterbacks. Following Friday night’s less than stellar performances from Will Howard and Drew Allar, there is no longer any debate over who the number two quarterback is entering the regular season.
Of course as soon as I state that Mason Rudolph is in fact the backup, I can already hear many of you “but… but… but…” as you offer arguments. Let me put those to rest with this statement. The Pittsburgh Steelers believe they can compete in 2026. That’s all you really need to know. A team that believes it can win will not settle on unproven players at the most important position in professional sports. Especially when the starter is approaching 43 years of age.
There is evidence of Mike McCarthy keeping younger backups behind an established starter. This I cannot deny, but those starters weren’t entering their final season as Aaron Rodgers is. I am a firm believer in that Art Rooney II is terrified of a losing season. I’m not a fan of those either but I’m not afraid of them. If they allow young players to learn, gain experience and face adversity then I’m OK with that. This current Steelers’ team doesn’t appear to be one of those however.
When you believe you can “compete” then you have to have people in positions that allow you to do that. We saw last season that when Rodgers broke his wrist, the stretch of games after that (he did miss the Bears’ game) were brutal for him. My larger point is that at his age his chances of an injury seem to have increased. Oddly enough, Rudolph started that game in Chicago and despite a rough start, did enough to get a win but didn’t.
Ask yourself, if that situation were the same this year, how would you feel about Howard or Allar starting a game on the road? I do not believe Mike McCarthy wants to find out. Now if things go badly early on this year and the postseason is out of reach then by all means you go with the youth. But we aren’t talking about that. This is about starting the season and going from there.
As for how many quarterbacks McCarthy keeps? It sure feels like it’s going to be four right now. That isn’t however what we are concerned about. It’s about who that number two guy is going to be. While it is surely debatable as is everything else in life, it’s going to be Mason Rudolph.
