The Pittsburgh Steelers are comfortable with their current situation at quarterback beyond Ben Roethlisberger.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert made that clear Wednesday during an appearance on Pittsburgh's 93.7 The Fan. Despite struggling in multiple games in 2019, Pittsburgh is not moving on from Mason Rudolph at backup quarterback.
"What we really liked about how he handled his benching was he was positive, he worked harder, he stayed the course and when he was called upon in the Jets game, he played his best quarter and a half and unfortunately he got hurt," Colbert said of Rudolph. "A lot of times we find out a lot about ourselves when we're put in tough situations and Mason was last year and he responded both times in my opinion and we're very comfortable in where he'll be in year three but quite honestly we hope that Ben is out there the whole season."
Colbert hopes, of course, Rudolph doesn't have to take the field much at all in 2020, because "if he's not called on to play, that means Ben's doing what we had hoped for."
That's sound logic, but if Pittsburgh is again forced to look down its depth chart under center, history suggests things won't go very well. Rudolph appeared in 10 games (eight starts) in 2019, completing 62.2 percent of passes for 1,765 yards and a 13-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His stat line was fairly solid, but Pittsburgh struggled to turn those contests into wins, and his nightmarish performance on Thursday night against Cleveland -- an outing Colbert simply but effectively characterized as "a bad game" -- drew a red line through much of the rest of his season.
Steelers fans understandably have little confidence in the team's backup quarterback situation, instead pinning their hopes on Roethlisberger's health. Still, though, the Steelers will have to explore avenues to obtain a successor to Roethlisberger before long. Colbert said the team wasn't focusing on that effort this offseason.
"Well, we're always gonna watch what's out there," Colbert said. "It's my job to evaluate any position, any player that happens to be available, and we do that. But I can honestly say that we absolutely made no negotiation or any offer to any veteran quarterback."
