Mason Rudolph Responds to Ben Roethlisberger’s Controversial Comments

Ben Roethlisberger went full scorched earth earlier this week on Pittsburgh’s 2018 NFL Draft selections. In particular, he openly questioned why the team drafted Mason Rudolph in the third round.

You can read his full comments here but to sum up his thoughts in a sentence, he felt that a player who could help the team immediately would have been better suited for the third round slot than a developmental QB. He also responded to Rudolph’s rather innocuous comments saying Big Ben didn’t need to show him the ropes earlier in the week by saying he’d point the rookie QB to the playbook rather than taking him under his Hall of Fame, aging wings.

It was, ahem, an awkward and semi-insecure response from the Steelers’ QB1. Rudolph responded to them on Saturday and tried to deflate the situation.

“If I was Ben, I’d probably say the same thing,” Rudolph said. “He’s a competitor. Obviously, he has a lot of confidence in himself, like I do. Yeah, he’s going to be a future Hall of Famer and I would expect him to say that. So I’m just looking forward to going in there and learning the system, competing, raising my level of play, preparing like I’m the starter even though obviously I won’t be the starter. And just waiting and being prepared for whenever I get my time whenever my time comes, to be ready and take advantage of it.”

If Big Ben doesn’t openly threaten retirement before his counter to Rudolph’s mature answer, I’m sure we can all expect a rational response to Rudolph taking the high road here. But whoo boy, did this get uncomfortable in a jiffy.