Steelers: 3 players who won’t be on the roster by September 1
By John Buhler
The Pittsburgh Steelers will need to make a few roster calibrations before Week 1 arrives.
It will be a new era of Pittsburgh Steelers football once toe meets leather in early September.
For the first time since 2003, Ben Roethlisberger will not be part of this team. He decided to retire after last season, paving the way for Pittsburgh to sign Mitch Trubisky in free agency, as well as take former Pitt star Kenny Pickett in the 2022 NFL Draft. While the defense should be fantastic, there are a lot of questions surrounding the Steelers offense. Maybe camp reveals a few things?
Here are three players currently on the Steelers roster who probably will not be come September.
Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 players who will not be on the roster by September 1
3. 55. Pick Analysis. Pittsburgh Steelers. Mason Rudolph. player. Scouting Report. QB
Is Mason Rudolph as a third-stringer worth keeping around for another season?
2022 will be the fourth NFL season out of Oklahoma State for former third-round pick Mason Rudolph. Once drafted to be the heir apparent to Big Ben, things have not worked out for him. He is best known for splitting time with Devlin “Duck” Hodges in 2019 and having Myles Garrett hit him on the head with his own helmet. With Pickett and Trubisky in tote, it might be time to leave.
Trubisky will almost certainly be the Week 1 starter for the Steelers, while Pickett will try his best to overtake him on the depth chart. Though Rudolph is still under contract for one more season, it may be time to cut bait and give him another opportunity to see if he can play somewhere else. Should Chris Oladokun show any promise during training camp or in the preseason, this is so easy.
In truth, Rudolph may only be a mid-level backup in the NFL. There is value to having a player like him, but it does not serve the Steelers to have one at this point of their competitive life cycle. With Roethlisberger out of the picture, they need a stop-gap (Trubisky), a new hope to believe in (Pickett) and a player to put on the practice squad (Oladokun). Rudolph is not any of those things.
Releasing Rudolph will only be a little more than $1 million dead-cap hit for the Steelers franchise.