March 31 (UPI) — The Pittsburgh Steelers are comfortable with Mason Rudolph as their starting quarterback, coach Mike Tomlin told reporters Monday at the NFL owners meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.
“That’s why we brought him back,” Tomlin said, when asked about Rudolph. “I’m comfortable with that. We’ve been there before. He’s a very capable guy.”
General manager Omar Khan also said the Steelers plan to have four quarterbacks on their roster in training camp. Rudolph and former Miami Dolphins backup Skylar Thompson are the only quarterbacks on their current roster.
“We always go to training camp with four quarterbacks and we have 2 under contract right now, so all options are on the table through free agency, trade or draft, obviously,” Khan said.
Rudolph, who spent last season with the Tennessee Titans, signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract with the Steelers earlier this month. The Steelers, who decided not to re-sign 2024 starter Russell Wilson, remain interested in free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who visited the team March 21.
“We had a really productive day,” Tomlin said. “He’s been in this thing a long time. I’ve been in this thing a long time. But there’s no substitute for intimacy and spending time together and getting to know one another in a non-competitive environment.
“So, that was really good. But I don’t have any new updates in terms of where the process is. We’ll see where it leads us.”
Tomlin said the Steelers do not have a deadline regarding a potential Rodgers deal.
“I don’t know that we’ve approached it from a deadline perspective,” Tomlin said. “Certainly, as I mentioned, you’d like to have settled circumstances, but deadlines don’t often bring that to a head.”
Rudolph, a third-round pick by the Steelers in the 2018 NFL Draft, completed 63.7% of his throws for 4,615 yards, 28 touchdowns and 20 interceptions over the first 29 appearances of his career.
