Mason Rudolph leads the race for the Steelers' No. 2 quarterback job halfway through the 2019 preseason. It's a closer contest than most may want to admit, but what Rudolph has over Josh Dobbs is accuracy throwing to different parts of the field.
Rudolph, a third-round pick last year, still needs to improve several aspects of his game to match the first-round grade the Steelers had on him.
He finished his preseason start against the Chiefs completing 10 passes on 15 attempts for 77 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions and took one sack.
Rudolph's biggest struggle as a young quarterback has been finding comfort in rotating through his progressions. Too many times I've seen Rudolph stick to his primary pre-snap read and fail to work through his options against various defenses.
The sack he suffered from Alex Okafor in the first quarter against the Chiefs is a prime example. Watch his head on the play. On third down he's staring down one area of the field despite having different options in other areas:
But Rudolph did better once James Washington entered the game. Watch the confidence Rudolph has in the pocket this time, looking down the middle of the field then switching right to Washington and firing a strong, high pass:
He does overlook a wide open Eli Rogers across the middle, but Rudolph shows confidence rotating through his reads — a great sign of his progress in the offense. He also put good zip on his pass to Washington on the sideline, countering the notion that he doesn't have good NFL arm strength.
The more impressive show of that arm strength came on a third-and-11 conversion over the middle. Again, Rudolph trusts his arm when he is throwing to Washington, even in traffic. Watch how he goes into his drop looking toward the middle of the field, but comes back to Washington and fires the ball into an area with three Chiefs defenders lurking:
Rudolph still needs to show he can launch the ball deep into a secondary on a fly route to take chunks out of the defense. That may be the biggest advantage Dobbs has over Rudolph.
If Rudolph can make some of those throws, he'll cement the job and end the questions. But even if he doesn't, he still has the edge because of his lack of interceptions, better accuracy and the momentum of his play this preseason.
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MORE CLASSROOM
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August 15: Turn Rudolph loose vs. Chiefs
August 14: Will Tevin Jones win the last wide receiver spot?
