Mason Rudolph

The Steelers traded their third-round (79th overall) and seventh-round (220th overall) picks to the Seattle Seahawks in order to move up three spots and select Rudolph with the 76th overall pick.

Brett Mason Rudolph III (born July 17, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL).

He played college football at Oklahoma State, where he was a three-year starter and won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award during his last year.

Rudolph entered his true freshman season in 2014 as a third string behind J. W. Walsh and Daxx Garman.

After Walsh was injured, Garman became the starter with Rudolph as his backup.

After Garman was injured, Rudolph started his first career game against Baylor.

During the game, he completed 13 of 25 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Rudolph remained the starter for the final two games, including the 2015 Cactus Bowl victory against Washington.

In three games total, he completed 49 of 86 passes for 853 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions.

He was named the starter for the 2015 season in January of that year.

Rudolph is the winner of the 2017 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given annually to the country's outstanding senior college quarterback.

Rudolph attended the NFL Scouting Combine and completed the majority of combine drills, but opted to skip the bench press, broad jump, short shuttle, and three-cone drill.

He was selected by the Steelers in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Rudolph was named after his father and grandfather; he is not related to the former golfer Mason Rudolph.

He attended Westminster Catawba Christian School before transferring to Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

During his career he passed for 10,986 yards and 132 passing touchdowns.

During his senior season, he accounted for 80 total touchdowns and threw for 4,400 yards as he led the Trojans to a 15–0 record, 4A State Championship and #7 national ranking.

He played in the Annual Shrine Bowl All-Star game and was named the offensive MVP as he led South Carolina on a game-winning drive in the final 20 seconds.

He was a finalist for South Carolina's "Mr Football" award.

Rudolph was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the ninth-best pro-style quarterback in his class.

He committed to Oklahoma State University to play college football.

On March 15, 2018, he participated at Oklahoma State's pro day and completed the three-cone drill, short shuttle, broad jump, and ran passing drills.

He met with scouts and team representatives from the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, and Los Angeles Chargers privately after completing his pro day.

He attended private workout and visits with the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints, Cincinnati Bengals, Steelers, New York Giants, and Chargers.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Rudolph was projected to be a second round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts.

He was ranked as the sixth best quarterback prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com, Scouts Inc., and Sports Illustrated.

The Steelers selected Rudolph in the third round (76th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Rudolph was the sixth quarterback selected in 2018.

On May 23, 2018, the Steelers signed Rudolph to a four-year, $3.92 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $932,264.

Throughout training camp, Rudolph competed against Landry Jones and Joshua Dobbs for the backup spot behind Ben Roethlisberger.

Head coach Mike Tomlin ultimately named Rudolph the third quarterback, as Jones was released.

Rudolph did not receive a single snap in the 2018 season.

During the preseason, Rudolph was named the second quarterback behind Roethlisberger, eclipsing Dobbs after multiple successful preseason performances.

During Week 2 against the Seahawks, Rudolph relieved an injured Roethlisberger in the second half and threw for 112 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception as the Steelers narrowly lost 28-26.

Following the announcement that Roethlisberger would miss the rest of the season due to season-ending elbow surgery, Rudolph became the Steelers' starting quarterback.

Rudolph made his first NFL start in Week 3 against the San Francisco 49ers.

He threw for 174 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in the 24–20 road loss.

In the next game against the Bengals, Rudolph recorded his first win as a starter with 229 passing yards and two touchdowns in the 27–3 victory.

The following week against the Baltimore Ravens, he suffered a concussion after being hit by Ravens safety Earl Thomas and was temporarily knocked unconscious, being relieved by Steelers third-string quarterback Devlin Hodges.

Rudolph was cleared from concussion protocol on October 16, 2019.