Oh the drama.
This was certainly the sentiment of the vast majority of Pittsburgh Steelers fans when Ben Roethlisberger made waves on his weekly radio show talking about Mason Rudolph. Why the team drafted him in the third round and how Rudolph supposedly didn’t want Roethlisberger’s help.
The media latched onto the story and ran with it like there was no tomorrow, but it also created a very interesting story line as the team headed into Organized Team Activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamp.
Will Ben actually tutor Mason?
Inquiring minds wanted to know!
Well, as expected, Roethlisberger did help Rudolph on more than one occasion, and Rudolph talked about what the advice was coming from the team’s longtime franchise quarterback.
“He will talk about ball placement a lot,” Rudolph told Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “throwing to guys open especially in the red zone. There’s tight windows down there, and he does a great job of teaching guys – even if it’s incomplete, he will teach the guys what to throw. ‘This is where I want to put the ball moving forward. So they learn, so the next rep, they are more quick to learn and quick to adjust based on his ball placement.”
While many players will downplay the improvement they have made throughout the offseason, Rudolph acknowledged just how the game has slowed down for him through rookie minicamp, OTAs and minicamp.
“That first day of OTAs was fast,” Rudolph said after minicamp wrapped up. “Just because you are coming from rookie minicamp, and you’re starting to feel super comfortable there and you’re dialing it up and moving it down the field and throwing into those windows. And then (at OTAs), those windows and those throwing lanes, they all decreased pretty significantly.
”But after that first day, you adjust and you raise your level of play and you take your coaching and make some mistakes here and there, but it’s a process and we understand that. Made a lot of plays here at the end of the camp.”
By all accounts, not just from Rudolph himself, the third round pick from Oklahoma State has been nothing short of impressive as a professional. His command of the huddle, accuracy with the football and overall play has been outstanding.
Granted, this is nothing more than football in shorts, but there is even talk by some suggesting Rudolph could be the second quarterback on the depth chart, above Landry Jones, if he performs well in training camp and the preseason. It certainly will make for an interesting discussion and debate as the regular season draws near.
While this particular quarterback battle will have to wait until the boys head to Latrobe, PA, readers can rest easy knowing Roethlisberger has indeed been helping Rudolph progress throughout offseason workouts.