Steelers Face a Decision, Not Dilemma, At Quarterback

MASON RUDOLPH | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

QB or not QB; will they really keep four or do they only need three?

That’s been the question ever since the Steelers drafted Drew Allar.

And now, after a summer stint at Saint Vincent College, and just one preseason game, we apparently have our answer.

Head coach Mike McCarthy all but officially confirmed Mason Rudolph will make the team as the veteran backup this week when he announced Rudolph wouldn’t play in preseason game number two against the New York Jets on Friday because McCarthy “saw what I needed to see from Mason” in the team’s first preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.

Rudolph isn’t a luxury, though; he’s a necessity for a team intent on contending.

MASON RUDOLPH | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Will Howard, a sixth-round selection a year ago who missed the 2025 season due to injury, and Allar, a third-round pick back in April, are long-term projects as potential long-term successors to starter Aaron Rodgers.

Neither has taken an NFL snap that matters. That being the case, neither would be an acceptable alternative should Rodgers come up unavailable for whatever reason at any point of the season.

But both Allar and Howard have shown enough since the spring to be deemed worthy of continuing to develop, particularly by a quarterback guru of McCarthy’s stature, in the type of quarterback-friendly program McCarthy operates, and with Rodgers not just available, but also enthusiastically willing to serve as perhaps the all-time mentor for young players in such a situation.

So you keep those two, too. They’re in the oven, though, not the microwave.

The biggest argument against such an atypical decision would be that the third quarterback will get precious few, if any, 11-on-11 reps in regular season practices, let alone the fourth quarterback.

Young quarterback development, presumably, would be severely stunted.

But McCarthy’s answer is the aforementioned quarterback-friendly program he runs. His signature “quarterback school” counters with seemingly endless drills that manically emphasize fundamentals and repetition, with obsessive walk-throughs and with relentless video study.

He’s insisted since January that working with four quarterbacks at once wouldn’t be a development issue, even with the obvious lack of actual practice.

He’s made a convincing argument since then.

The other perceived negative to hoarding quarterbacks would be keeping four at the expense of fortifying another position group amid the roster reduction to 53.

After further review, that one doesn’t hold any water, either.

MASON RUDOLPH | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Unless the landscape drastically changes during the final two preseason games — unlikely, unless injuries intervene — the Steelers appear all but set in terms of the number of players who will be kept at each position, if not the actual identity of the last player retained in a given position group or two.

The roster math isn’t complicated, it’s obvious.

Keeping four quarterbacks would come at the expense of one fewer body at either safety or defensive line.

Do they really want to risk having to jettison a potential franchise quarterback in the making, or a veteran backup capable of saving the season if need be (as Rudolph did in 2023) for the sake of the 53rd player on a 53-man roster?

They shouldn’t, particularly with practice squad call-ups more experienced and more readily available given the relatively recent tweaks to practice squad eligibility and accessibility for active duty from week to week.

So count on a foursome at quarterback when we get to September.

At football’s most important position in particular, the more the merrier.