Steelers 3rd String Quarterback Mason Rudolph's Wild Trade Rumors Are Setting Social Media On Fire

Mason Rudolph is officially the third-string quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The former third-round draft pick from Oklahoma State will spend his sixth professional season in Pittsburgh. Rudolph’s relationship with Steeler Nation is complicated and well-documented. A noisy and persistent portion of the fan base still thinks the organization and Ben Roethlisberger screwed over Rudolph.

Rudolph is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Just ask his fans. With all due respect to the sixth-year signal caller’s fans, the Rudolph devotion is, at the very least, an unusual phenomenon. In the immortal words of the great comedian George Carlin, this is the proper answer to the Rudolph loyalists who praise his virtues relentlessly.

“The greatest thing since sliced bread,” Carlin quips. “So this is it, huh folks? Couple of hundred thousand years, The Pyramids, the Panama Canal, The Great Wall of China, even a lava lamp to me is, greater than sliced bread. What's so great about sliced bread? You got a knife, you got a loaf of bread, slice the thing.”

Rudolph did not want to stay in Pittsburgh. It is understandable why. He has not had it easy. In 2019, Rudolph had a real opportunity to secure his position as the heir apparent to Roethlisberger. He managed to find himself victim to one of the ugliest hits in recent NFL memory against the Baltimore Ravens.

If Not For Bad Luck, Steelers' Mason Rudolph Would Have No Luck At All

After fighting his way back to the field, he was benched for Devlin Hodges. He also had to endure the scurrilous accusations of the Pro Football Focus poster boy for edge-rushing and aggravated assault, Myles Garrett. Rudolph, like Garrett, has done little to earn the blind devotion he engenders from fans who think they are both better than they get credit for. 

In Rudolph’s case, it might be warranted. He is, after all, the best third-string quarterback in the league. Garrett will forever be behind TJ Watt in actual production, but Pro Football Focus will continue to make up stats to convince fans to doubt their lying eyes.

In the latest bizarre development for the Steelers third-string signal-caller, Rudolph started trending on Twitter / X on Tuesday night. The New England Patriots cut every quarterback on the roster not named Mac Jones. Rumors of Bill Belichick’s love affair with Rudolph in 2018 have resurfaced and sparked some wild speculation about what the Patriots are planning. 

It may very well be that the Patriots are interested in Rudolph at quarterback. However, he was available all winter and spring, and the Patriots could have had him without draft compensation. Belichick has to employ someone to back up Jones, theoretically. Then again, the Patriots did have a defensive coordinator running the offense in 2022. Maybe they thought the San Francisco 49ers were on to something with Christian McCaffrey running the offense in the NFC Championship game. 

Social media was not content with just engineering a trade for Rudolph to find a new home. They have promoted the third-string Steelers quarterback to starter in New England. Jones, who already has a rocky relationship with the Patriots and Belichick, must be absolutely overjoyed at knowing the Patriots are just a trade for Rudolph away from being contenders. 

Omar Khan would leap at a mid-round pick for Rudolph. The Patriots have options, with Colt McCoy being released by the Arizona Cardinals. It is hard to imagine that if they do trade for Rudolph, the situation under Bill O'Brien will degenerate to the point that a healthy Jones would ever be benched for a journeyman quarterback nobody wants, well, almost nobody. 

Rudolph will likely remain in Pittsburgh, and the Patriots, Cardinals, and whoever else needs a backup quarterback will look elsewhere. If the Khan artist weaves Rudolph into a draft pick, forget Executive of the Year. Just put him straight into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Trading Chase Claypool, Kendrick Green, and potentially Rudolph for draft compensation within a year would cement legendary status.

What do you think, Steeler Nation? Would the Patriots or any other NFL team actually trade anything for Rudolph? Let me know what you think. Please comment below, or on my Twitter / X: @thebubbasq.

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