Pittsburgh Steelers Urged to Consider Trading Mason Rudolph Before 2026 Season

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been urged to consider trading Mason Rudolph before the 2026 season by NFL analyst Moe Moton of Bleacher Report. 

Pittsburgh has four QBs right now: Aaron Rodgers, Will Howard, Drew Allar and Rudolph. There's no point in having four QBs, so the Steelers should part ways with Rudolph and get some assets in return for him.  

"Rudolph is the odd man out, though he should have a trade market with 19 career starts on his resume," Moton wrote. 

Rudolph has one year left on his contract. He has a base salary of $3 million for next season. The Steelers should get out of his contract as soon as possible. 

Rudolph is a below-average QB. He serves no purpose on the Steelers roster. The 30-year-old has 4,925 career passing yards, 30 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions. He's played for the Steelers [twice] and Tennessee Titans. 

There might be a team desperate for a No. 2 QB. The Steelers have to find that team and offer them Rudolph, who won't play in 2026 in Pittsburgh. If Rodgers gets hurt, Allar and Howard are ahead of Rudolph on the depth chart. 

One of the top quarterbacks in NFL history, Rodgers put up 3,322 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns and seven interceptions last season. The future Hall of Famer completed 65.7% of his passes.

The Steelers won the AFC North last season but lost to the Houston Texans at home in the wild-card round of the 2026 playoffs.

New Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy and Rodgers won Super Bowl XLV against the Steelers as members of the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 42, called it a "full circle" moment to play for McCarthy again.

"Honestly, sitting in the first 8 o'clock meeting on Monday took me back to being a 22-year-old kid sitting in Green Bay," Rodgers said. "Listening to Mike's first meeting in 2006. It's fun. I mean, it's like 'pinch me' moments. It's been happening the last few days, getting to sit next to [offensive line coach] James Campen in the meetings is fun. [Assistant offensive line coach] Jahri Evans was a teammate of mine. He's on his staff now as a Hall of Famer -- should be a Hall of Famer. That's pretty cool too. A lot of connections."

Rodgers has been in the NFL since 2005. He has played for the Packers, New York Jets and Steelers and has 527 career passing touchdowns and 66,274 career passing yards in the regular season.

2026 will be Rodgers' final season in the NFL. It will be fascinating to see how far the Steelers go. 

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