Mason Rudolph (American football)

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

Early years
Rudolph was named after his father and grandfather; he is not related to late PGA Tour golfer of the same name.

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. 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.

College career
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.

Professional career
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. 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, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, and Los Angeles 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 Pittsburgh Steelers selected Rudolph in the third round (76th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. 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. Rudolph was the sixth quarterback selected in 2018.

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

Throughout training camp, Rudolph competed for the backup quarterback against Landry Jones and Joshua Dobbs. Head coach Mike Tomlin named Rudolph the third string quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger and Joshua Dobbs.