Ryan Clark – “Mason Rudolph Is Not A Good QB”

[Fiji Mariner]

Ryan Clark was a way better Safety than “analyst” or blow hard, click bait seeker, talking head…whatever the hell what he’s doing right now is called.

That being said, MR is dangerously average which does seem to match our recent identity. Is he great? Very doubtful.
Could he be good? Maybe possible.
Do we as fans deserve better? Hell yes!!!

Remember guys, in the end it’s a business. It’s about making money, we already have trophies and who wants to spend money on a bigger trophy case? The Rooney’s will continue to rake it in because winning is $$$$ point blank and simple.

 

[TDX27]

He's right about Rudolph but QB is not our only issue. It would be dumb to go out and trade for a guy that will cost us draft capital and a large cap hit, especially someone well into their 30's. Bring in a FA QB and have them compete. If a QB they love drops to them this year, fine but I would wait a year or two to draft a QB when the draft class is better. Bring in a guy like Carr, Rodgers, Wilson, etc. and you will have no draft capital or cap space to fill the many holes on the rest of the team. It would take 3 to 5 years to build the team around them and by then, they are ready to retire and you are looking to draft someone anyway. It just makes no sense. Winston or Trubisky can compete and be decent stop gaps for a couple years. Don't start restructuring contracts again and kicking the can down the road right when we are finally about to get out of that hell we have been in. Only do that when necessary and right now, it certainly isn't necessary. This team is NOT a QB away from the Super Bowl this year or even the following year but, if done right, by year 3, 4, or 5, they could be.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

You keep mentioning Rudolph's record as if it has some sort of relevance. Duck Hodges was 3-3 (almost as good as 5-4-1) as the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh. He parlayed that into being waived by the Rams before the start of this season, and then a stint in the CFL with the Ottawa Redblacks, where he went 16-38 for 139 yards with no touchdowns and a pick.

Kent Graham had a winning record in his previous four years in the league with the Cardinals and Giants (15-14) before joining the Steelers (including 10-6 in the prior two seasons with New York). Who gives a ****? Didn't mean that he was any good.

If the Steelers had as much confidence in the guy as you do, they certainly wouldn't be out there searching for another option as rigorously as they have been.

Duck had no arm, I never said Mason IS the answer and I am not opposed to finding a better prospect, my point is simple way to many are jumping to purely emotional reactions to him that are entirely unwarranted given what he has accomplished in less than ideal circumstances. Ben's record this year wasn't any better than 5-4-1 in reality. I am not confident in Mason but I am not ready to throw him away and say he sucks either. He deserves a chance to show what he can do without having the pressure of knowing it is Ben's team and offense. He has shown me enough to think he has a chance to be good. Most of yinz are not looking at things logically.

 

[Fiji Mariner]

I will say this, a 3-5 year wait to be competitive is a sign that someone isn’t tying hard enough

In todays NFL where even the lowly Bengals can go from one of worst to a SB appearance in 1-2 years…that says it all. Parity rules and even a bad team is only a few players from a SB.

If we wait 3-5 years to try to be competitive that is a business decision, and a poor one from this fan’s perspective.

 

[Djfan]

He is just causing hate and discontent for ratings, that’s what media hacks do.

You're probably right. Still, it's middle school nonsense.

 

[SteelerSask2]

I will say this, a 3-5 year wait to be competitive is a sign that someone isn’t tying hard enough

In todays NFL where even the lowly Bengals can go from one of worst to a SB appearance in 1-2 years…that says it all. Parity rules and even a bad team is only a few players from a SB.

If we wait 3-5 years to try to be competitive that is a business decision, and a poor one from this fan’s perspective.

Do you even read it before you post it. Even the Bengals. You mean the Bengals who had the number one overall pick and selected Joe Burrow and finally nailed it. There are three options here:
1. Trade for an experienced starter or go FA. You can give up a lot of capital for one of the top four Rogers, Wilson, Carr or Jimmy G. Apparently the asking price on the first three will be huge. And all four will eat up almost all of this treasured cap space we finally enjoy. Or you can get a retread like Winston, Trubisky with bigger pedigree than at least Rudolph but little more success.
2. Draft a qb. Anyone would be behind this if it was a good class. It's not. So again it's gonna be capital to move up to get a guy who may not look any better than Rudolph when he came out of college. They all have serious warts.
3. Role with what they got. Fix their longterm salary cap issues and become a better football team. If you can't run or stop the run it doesn't matter who you have at qb. Address those meat and potatoes football problems in a great year for that. If Rudolph is as bad as some of you think they will be I a much better situation next year to get a guy. I just don't happen to think he is.

 

[MT~Forged]

You keep mentioning Rudolph's record as if it has some sort of relevance. Duck Hodges was 3-3 (almost as good as 5-4-1) as the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh. He parlayed that into being waived by the Rams before the start of this season, and then a stint in the CFL with the Ottawa Redblacks, where he went 16-38 for 139 yards with no touchdowns and a pick.

Kent Graham had a winning record in his previous four years in the league with the Cardinals and Giants (15-14) before joining the Steelers (including 10-6 in the prior two seasons with New York). Who gives a ****? Didn't mean that he was any good.

If the Steelers had as much confidence in the guy as you do, they certainly wouldn't be out there searching for another option as rigorously as they have been.

Comparing him to Kent Graham is BS, one was way past his prime on a downhill slide, the other is a young QB that has been barely given a true chance.

if you are not ALWAYS on the hunt, you are doing a **** job.

 

[Steelworth]

Come on, Terry Bradshaw was the No. 1 overall draft pick and he played 50 years ago. It has never been easier for an NFL QB to succeed. Rudolph has no special traits. His pocket presence is lacking, he doesn't throw his receivers open, he doesn't have exceptional accuracy. He's just a guy at quarterback and he isn't going to lead the Steelers to anything significant. It's not jumping to conclusions, we've watched him for a few years now and you can see he isn't the answer. And again, it's not just the fans saying this, but his high-level teammates not believing in him either. When Heyward, Watt, Johnson, Harris, etc. all start showing full confidence in Rudolph as the starter, I'll buy in, but each guy has talked about bringing in a QB from the outside. His teammates said that, not the fans.

Forget the eras or draft status. Was Terry Bradshaw a good QB his first few seasons? No. Mason Rudolph is likely not the long-term answer IMO either, but he at least deserves an actual shot. A full season to see what happens. That's all I'm saying. The **** he gets is like he played like Bradshaw did in the beginning, which was atrocious.

 

[Steelworth]

That was only a small clip of over a minute of him talking about Rudolph. He was getting to the idea that if the Steelers go into next season with Rudolph, they are no longer the team that goes into the offseason with the belief they can compete for a championship the next season.

The quote I posted was bullshit and clickbait, RC is better than that. He said that if he's the starter, they're no longer the team he loves? Did he and others drink the kool-aid that this kid actually said what that POS Myles Garrett claimed he said?

 

[slashsteel]

Forget the eras or draft status. Was Terry Bradshaw a good QB his first few seasons? No. Mason Rudolph is likely not the long-term answer IMO either, but he at least deserves an actual shot. A full season to see what happens. That's all I'm saying. The **** he gets is like he played like Bradshaw did in the beginning, which was atrocious.

They will not give Mason a full season unless he earns it. With the plan to bring in a QB supposedly 2 that diminishes his chances. If he beats three QBs out **** sure he will have earned it. I wouldn't double down in Vegas on that happening though.

 

[black and gold apex]

Ryan is trying to get move up there with A Smith

 

[TDX27]

I will say this, a 3-5 year wait to be competitive is a sign that someone isn’t tying hard enough

In todays NFL where even the lowly Bengals can go from one of worst to a SB appearance in 1-2 years…that says it all. Parity rules and even a bad team is only a few players from a SB.

If we wait 3-5 years to try to be competitive that is a business decision, and a poor one from this fan’s perspective.

The Bengals also had very high picks. They got Burrows in one year and Chase in the next. We have no chance at something like that right now. We have never had top picks like that. The Steelers can fill a lot of holes this year and next in the draft even with where they are picking and they can add legitimate starters in free agency as well. The tough part will be getting that very top QB to compete with Allen, Mahomes, Burrows, etc. as the tops in the AFC let alone the NFC. In Ben's career, it was mainly he, Brady and a Manning (all hall of famers) winning all of the Super Bowls. You really need one of the very best QB's nowadays to truly compete for Super Bowls. The Bengals have draft picks and a lot of cap space right now. They will fix their OL and add to their D and if Brown doesn't screw things up like he normally does, they will be the top of our division for the next decade even ahead of the Ratbirds. The Steelers really have their work cut out for them to get back to the top of our own division let alone the top of the AFC and win a Super Bowl. It can happen but a lot of things need to go right. The sad thing is there is almost no chance Cam will get a ring. He probably only has 2 or 3 more years at his current level and that will put him at 35 or 36.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

They will not give Mason a full season unless he earns it. With the plan to bring in a QB supposedly 2 that diminishes his chances. If he beats three QBs out **** sure he will have earned it. I wouldn't double down in Vegas on that happening though.

Wouldn’t it be better to save money and draft capital by not overspending for big QB signing or trade and let Mason have a year to sink or swim. The benefits are obvious. A. He succeeds. Great!
B. He doesn’t and we suck we get a great pick in a better QB draft while having addressed other issues without bloating our QB salary.
C. He is mediocre, this is really the worst case but the upside is still important and also goes for B. The next guy to play QB won’t have to be compared to Ben and live up to being his replacement. Mason gets the extremely difficult task of having to be that guy and as we see it already a burden of expectations being so high he can’t reasonably reach them because of us being used to Ben.

I live or die with Mason and or Haskins plus a cheap bargain vet. Unless we can get Pickett without a trade up or Ridder falls to the third. Then I take a shot.

 

[slashsteel]

Wouldn’t it be better to save money and draft capital by not overspending for big QB signing or trade and let Mason have a year to sink or swim. The benefits are obvious. A. He succeeds. Great!
B. He doesn’t and we suck we get a great pick in a better QB draft while having addressed other issues without bloating our QB salary.
C. He is mediocre, this is really the worst case but the upside is still important and also goes for B. The next guy to play QB won’t have to be compared to Ben and live up to being his replacement. Mason gets the extremely difficult task of having to be that guy and as we see it already a burden of expectations being so high he can’t reasonably reach them because of us being used to Ben.

I live or die with Mason and or Haskins plus a cheap bargain vet. Unless we can get Pickett without a trade up or Ridder falls to the third. Then I take a shot.

Thing is in a year that they have more free agent money to spend.. than in a long time is the plan really to go with the QBs on the roster? To me that is just playing to tank because you aren't giving yourself the best opportunity to win. What message are you sending to Watt and Heyward that want to win now?

Steelers might as well cancel free agency too right?

Anywho I think Ridder goes high to mid 2 and Pickett top 10.

 

[Steelworth]

I think a lot of y'all just have Elafiphobia!

Look it up, then maybe get a little chuckle and forget this nonsense for a minute. Lord have mercy this gonna be a long offseason.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

The quote I posted was bullshit and clickbait, RC is better than that. He said that if he's the starter, they're no longer the team he loves? Did he and others drink the kool-aid that this kid actually said what that POS Myles Garrett claimed he said?

No, Ryan didn't mention anything about the Garrett bullshit. What he said was that the Steelers he knows and loves do everything they can to compete for championships this year. And that settling for Rudolph as QB1 is not doing that. He said that Rudolph is an average NFL QB. Not an average STARTING NFL QB, an average NFL QB. So, he believes that settling for Rudolph means they've given up on the season; and that giving up on the season is not the Steelers he knows.

*Nothing racial was mentioned or, as far as I can see, inferred, by his statements. He just believes that Rudolph is a ****** QB and doesn't give the Steelers any shot at a championship.

 

[Litos]

Thing is in a year that they have more free agent money to spend.. than in a long time is the plan really to go with the QBs on the roster? To me that is just playing to tank because you aren't giving yourself the best opportunity to win. What message are you sending to Watt and Heyward that want to win now?

Steelers might as well cancel free agency too right?

Anywho I think Ridder goes high to mid 2 and Pickett top 10.

But you spend picks and money on a trade and then you won't be able to improve the Oline. That expensive QB will be injured by game 8, bet your favorite Steeler souvenir on it.

This team as it is, with a solid revamped O Line can compete like the titans did or even the 49ers, without having to trade for Rodgers, Wilson or Carr. Najee Harris, Freiermuth, DJ plus a true Oline can move the chains with above avg QB play.

The D needs to fix the tuitt situation at DLine and sign a CB and draft another in the top rounds. This won't be attainable if we have to trade for a QB.

 

[SteelerFan448]

A game he wasn't practicing for as the starter and didn't know he was starting until late the night before, after it was too late to change the game plan. A game he still almost won twice had players not fumbled it away. The "lowly" lions went on to win some games and not look horrible. Again he was still hamstrung by terrible play calling yet again had them in position to win a game. Not much worse than Ben had been doing. I see improvement in those very deficiencies you allude to. Again you would have had us cutting Bradshaw after the same number of starts. Peyton Manning as well if you look. I am not saying he is remotely close to being those players but he has better numbers at this point in starts than they did. I see more positives in what he has done so far than negatives. The reactions to him seem entirely emotional and devoid of actua reasoning. He is truly cursed by following Ben. I don't think anything he does will ever be enough.

Rudolph got starter reps every week. Ben barely practiced during the season. If he wasn't ready, that's on him. Scrub QBs have stepped in and beat the Steelers before when they were actually a good team.

BS they absolutely could win one with Rudolph if they built the right team around him. If Dilfer can win one Mason can, or Flacco for that matter. He doesn't have to be great just good enough. A Ben will not just fall in our laps we have to build the best team we can and win without Ben or anything close, then when we do find "the guy" he can step in and do wonders with a great team. If we chase QB's and not focus on building the rest of the team we become the Browns.

Please tell me what kind of roster they would need to construct for Mason Rudolph to win an NFL title.

 

[Steelworth]

No, Ryan didn't mention anything about the Garrett bullshit. What he said was that the Steelers he knows and loves do everything they can to compete for championships this year. And that settling for Rudolph as QB1 is not doing that. He said that Rudolph is an average NFL QB. Not an average STARTING NFL QB, an average NFL QB. So, he believes that settling for Rudolph means they've given up on the season; and that giving up on the season is not the Steelers he knows.

*Nothing racial was mentioned or, as far as I can see, inferred, by his statements. He just believes that Rudolph is a ****** QB and doesn't give the Steelers any shot at a championship.

Okay, but personally, I think that's a bunch of BS. Settling for this BS offensive play-calling and soft as **** mentality some have on the D is what's infuriating, and what's really going to prevent them from any shot at a playoff win, let alone a damn championship. And Ryan Clark is a defensive player. If he was a QB guru, I'd be more inclined to listen.

And of course they need a lot of help on the OL. That's a given. But this **** he's spouting about a QB with limited playing time and the different crap he had to deal with before a season even starts is irritating. I'm not even the biggest fan of Mason Rudolph, I just think it's bullshit what a former teammate said about the guy before he gets an honest chance.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

Okay, but personally, I think that's a bunch of BS. Settling for this BS offensive play-calling and soft as **** mentality some have on the D is what's infuriating, and what's really going to prevent them from any shot at a playoff win, let alone a damn championship. And Ryan Clark is a defensive player. If he was a QB guru, I'd be more inclined to listen.

And of course they need a lot of help on the OL. That's a given. But this **** he's spouting about a QB with limited playing time and the different crap he had to deal with before a season even starts is irritating. I'm not even the biggest fan of Mason Rudolph, I just think it's bullshit what a former teammate said about the guy before he gets an honest chance.

I get where you're coming from. But:
1) Ryan Clark retired in 2015. He was never a teammate of Rudolph's and owes him no type of loyalty. He gets paid to provide his take on certain football related issues. If what he said about Rudolph is what he actually feels, I commend him for having the courage of his convictions and speaking on them.
2) Several current teammates of Rudolph's have been given the opportunity to endorse him as QB1. None have chosen to do so. While they don't speak disparagingly of him, they don't speak highly of him either. Most tend to give some quote that ignores him and focuses on bringing in someone.
3) Even Tomlin, Colbert and ARll haven't endorsed him as QB1 material. In my mind, and maybe I'm misreading it, but, they all seem to give some indication that "Mason is our QB1 for now and will remain that unless we find a better option. And we ARE looking for a better option."

 

[slashsteel]

But you spend picks and money on a trade and then you won't be able to improve the Oline. That expensive QB will be injured by game 8, bet your favorite Steeler souvenir on it.

This team as it is, with a solid revamped O Line can compete like the titans did or even the 49ers, without having to trade for Rodgers, Wilson or Carr. Najee Harris, Freiermuth, DJ plus a true Oline can move the chains with above QB play.

The D needs to fix the tuitt situation at DLine and sign a CB and draft another in the top rounds. This won't be attainable of we have to trade for a QB.

I think they would have to stair stack picks into different seasons. Hard to gage how much money they would need to eat. I guess both would have to work for them. If it didn't then they would probably just try to upgrade without trading. Which might be the more realistic approach. Unless the QB they choose doesn't handcuff the team. So many scenerios. Hard to get a lock on it without knowing really who is available. But I would imagine they wouldn't target the top QB available in a trade. Moreso a mid tier type.

 

[SteelerFan448]

The quote I posted was bullshit and clickbait, RC is better than that. He said that if he's the starter, they're no longer the team he loves? Did he and others drink the kool-aid that this kid actually said what that POS Myles Garrett claimed he said?

The quote was only part of a minute plus talk. It left out the rest and this changed the context of his quote.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

Rudolph got starter reps every week. Ben barely practiced during the season. If he wasn't ready, that's on him. Scrub QBs have stepped in and beat the Steelers before when they were actually a good team.

Please tell me what kind of roster they would need to construct for Mason Rudolph to win an NFL title.

The same type the Ravens had with Dilfer. We are only about 4 players away from that in my opinion. TRENT DILFER! Mason is at least as good as that clown.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

Thing is in a year that they have more free agent money to spend.. than in a long time is the plan really to go with the QBs on the roster? To me that is just playing to tank because you aren't giving yourself the best opportunity to win. What message are you sending to Watt and Heyward that want to win now?

Steelers might as well cancel free agency too right?

Anywho I think Ridder goes high to mid 2 and Pickett top 10.

I think you are right on the QB slots. I just disagree on the rest. I just want them to spend on everything but QB this year. I truly think we are close to having a real chance without having to have a franchise QB. I don't want to settle on someone and spend too much when I think we can be competitive with Rudolph and if we aren't then we pick a better guy next year. Don't chase a position just because you think you have to. End Result Artie Burns.

 

[topseed]

Duck had no arm, I never said Mason IS the answer and I am not opposed to finding a better prospect, my point is simple way to many are jumping to purely emotional reactions to him that are entirely unwarranted given what he has accomplished in less than ideal circumstances. Ben's record this year wasn't any better than 5-4-1 in reality. I am not confident in Mason but I am not ready to throw him away and say he sucks either. He deserves a chance to show what he can do without having the pressure of knowing it is Ben's team and offense. He has shown me enough to think he has a chance to be good. Most of yinz are not looking at things logically.

Duck had no arm, yet he was a .500 quarterback with the Steelers. Ben wasn't very good this year, still had a winning record. In one of Rudolph's 5 wins, he was 8 for 16 for 85 yards and an INT. So in his other starts, he's 4-4-1, including a tie to the second-worst team in the NFL in 2021. You're not looking at his record logically.

Mason is NOT the answer, and there are much better options out there. Which is probably why just about everybody but you and me has been rumored to be the next starting quarterback in Pittsburgh.