Steelers extend QB Mason Rudolph's contract for 1 more season

With only one quarterback on the roster signed potentially beyond this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers made Mason Rudolph the second.

The Steelers announced Thursday less than hour before the start of the NFL Draft that they had signed Rudolph to a one-year extension. He was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after 2021.

NFL Network initially reported the Steelers’ interest in securing Rudolph for an additional season.

Sources: The #Steelers are closing in on a 1-year extension with QB Mason Rudolph. Nothing done yet, but look for it soon for the Steelers’ backup. He’ll be signed through 2022.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 29, 2021

Rudolph was the Steelers backup quarterback last year after making eight starts in 2019 when Ben Roethlisberger was out with a right elbow injury. The Steelers picked Rudolph in the third round of the 2018 draft, and he spent his rookie year on the depth chart behind Roethlisberger and Joshua Dobbs.

Dobbs became a free agent in March, and he signed a one-year deal with the Steelers, giving the team four quarterbacks on the roster.

Roethlisberger is signed through 2021, taking a $5 million pay cut on his contract that includes four voidable years.

The other quarterback on the roster, and the only one who wouldn’t have been an unrestricted free agent in 2022, is Dwayne Haskins, the former first-round pick of Washington. After being released in December, Haskins signed with the Steelers in January. He is scheduled to be a restricted free agent in 2022.

General manager Kevin Colbert said Monday that the organization was “wide open” to adding a quarterback in the draft, which runs Thursday through Saturday.

“If you look at our current depth, obviously we have four NFL veteran quarterbacks on our roster, which I feel great about,” Colbert said. “We also have really three of those four that are in the last year of their so-called deals when you look at it realistically. It’s an unusual group in that we do have four. Can you add a young one? Absolutely.

“We always have to be on the look for that next guy and try to predict the value of taking that player at that position because most likely a young quarterback won’t play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021.”

Rudolph, 25, completed 22 of 39 passes for 315 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his lone start last season, the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers lost the game, 24-22.

Rudolph won five of eight starts in 2019 while Roethlisberger was injured, but he was benched in favor of undrafted free agent Devlin Hodges for four consecutive games. Rudolph injured his shoulder in the Week 16 game against the New York Jets after relieving Hodges in the second half, and he spent the final game of the year on injured reserve.