Mason Rudolph Shakes off Funk With Solid Training Camp Showing on Thursday

Mason Rudolph had a rough start to training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers, as Kyle Cox noted in his latest NFL Check-In. Mark Kaboly, Senior Steelers’ writer for The Athletic, even went so far as to rank him second in his list of slow starters from week one of training camp.

Through it all though, Rudolph has remained positive. And he’s powering through.

It’s just another step. I get to learn a new way of preparing. I’m going to learn from Ben [Roethlisberger] and the older guys how they go about their daily preparation, and then you kind of pull a few things from each person’s repertoire and keep moving on. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Rudolph’s focus and preparation looks to paying off as he had a solid day of camp on Thursday. Ben Roethlisberger did not participate in all of the drills, and this freed up reps for the rest of the QB depth chart. When Rudolph first stepped onto the field during 11-on-11, it was just for a few hand-offs and one pass attempt. He later returned to take 7-on-7 reps and hit former Pittsburgh Panther wide receiver Quadree Henderson for a touchdown.

Rudolph’s performance on Thursday received praise from several media members, including Mark Kaboly.

Mason Rudolph had one of his best practices so far as he is starting to look a lot more comfortable with his reads that are leading to better throws. [The Athletic]

Although Rudolph did have another ball slip slip out of his hands, this time it was actually knocked out by a linebacker and not a #tinyhands issue.

According to Steelers.com, the quarterback rotation remains subject to change and head coach Mike Tomlin has not given any indication on what the depth chart might look like. In addition, Steelers’ general manager Kevin Colbert further supported the claim that there has been constant change to QB depth and rotation during training camp.

“Well, I think Landry obviously has the experience advantage against a guy like Mason Rudolph and they come in here and they compete,” Colbert said. “I mean, obviously, Landry’s our number two. Joshua Dobbs is our number three right now and Mason has to work his way through the rotation. They’ll get their reps and Coach [Mike Tomlin] likes to mix the reps up to make it a fair competition so that when Landry and Mason and Joshua are working, they work with different groups so as to balance it out. You know, Mason’s not always with the fours, Landry’s not always with the twos and Josh isn’t always with the threes. So, the days that Ben doesn’t work, which are scheduled days, it helps to get those guys the extra reps and again, Coach we’ll mix those up.” [SteelersDepot.com]

Tomlin kept with his tight-lipped approach on the backup quarterback battle when he was asked earlier today about Rudolph specifically.

“It’s early in the process. We’re just beginning to get to know him. You know, often times that position is defined by what happens in stadiums, and appropriately so. So you’ll never hear me paint with a broad brush or make too many drastic comments about his progress positively or negatively. I like his general approach to the work.”

The full clip can be found below.

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gives an update on Mason Rudolph and how the QB depth chart will ultimately be evaluated:#HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/z7WrNF7TOm

— Allan Bell (@AllanBell247) August 3, 2018

It’s great news to hear that Rudolph had a solid outing at camp after a few so-so performances. He’s competing with Josh Dobbs and former OU quarterback Landry Jones to backup Big Ben, and with Dobbs and Jones both having experience in the Steelers’ organization, Rudolph is starting out at a disadvantage.

Here’s Rudolph on being able to learn from the Steelers’ veterans.

Steers rookie Mason Rudolph on learning from the Steelers’ veteran quarterbacks. pic.twitter.com/RFvPsqYf3r

— Calem Illig (@calemillig) August 3, 2018