Steelers' Mason Rudolph latest member of 2018 QB class to write his postseason story

It is not Mason Rudolph’s intention to bring some credibility to the 2018 quarterback class of which he is a mid-round member. His sole objective Monday afternoon is to help the Pittsburgh Steelers win a playoff game for the first time in seven seasons.

Still, if he’s able to lead the Steelers past the Buffalo Bills and fellow classmate Josh Allen in an AFC wild-card matchup at Highmark Stadium, Rudolph could give his much-scrutinized quarterback group a dose of respect.

Rudolph is one of four quarterbacks from the once-heralded 2018 class who will start a game in this postseason. Allen, the most successful member from a playoff wins perspective, will be on the other sideline Sunday. Baker Mayfield will start Monday night for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Lamar Jackson has the weekend off before he leads the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens into playoff action.

What’s more, Sam Darnold is a backup on the NFC top-seeded San Francisco 49ers, fifth-round pick Mike White is a backup with the Miami Dolphins and the undrafted Kyle Allen is the No. 2 quarterback in Buffalo.

Rudolph is focused exclusively on the task at hand, but he is admittedly curious to see how the others fare.

“Every quarterback follows every other quarterback in this league,” he said. “There are very few guys who have started or gotten a chance to play. I’ve always been a big fan of those guys. … Everyone keeps up, roots everyone on except for when we are playing each other.”

The 2018 quarterback class was heralded as arguably the deepest this century. Five passers were taken in the first round, the most since 1999 and second only to the famed 1983 group that included Hall of Famers Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and John Elway.

Six seasons later, it’s safe to say that draft produced more busts than stars. Among those first-round talents, Allen and Jackson are the only ones with their original team. Rudolph, who went in the third round when the Steelers traded up several picks to get him, is the only other passer of the 13 taken in the Class of ’18 who remains with the team that drafted him.

Mayfield, selected first overall by Cleveland, is on his fourth team. Darnold, who went third to the New York Jets, is on his third. Josh Rosen, the No. 10 overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals, spent time with seven organizations, hasn’t played in a game since 2021 and wasn’t on an NFL roster this fall.

Allen was taken by the Bills with the No. 7 overall pick that year. Entering the draft, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. thought he and Darnold were candidates to be the first quarterback drafted.

“It’s like Affirmed and Alydar coming down the stretch,” he said.

While Allen has displayed Triple Crown capabilities, Darnold’s career has been more suited for a claiming race. He’s backing up former Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy on the 49ers.

In the predraft workout process in 2018, Rudolph spent time in southern California training with Darnold, Josh Allen and Kyle Allen (no relation).

“I see them around, and when we see each other, we definitely say hello,” Rudolph said. “They’re all good dudes, all good players.”

On Monday, though, Rudolph will do something Darnold — and Rosen, for that matter — never accomplished when he starts a playoff game.

Mayfield is 1-1 in the playoffs, famously leading the Browns over the Steelers in the 2020 wild-card round. Jackson, a former league MVP and candidate to win it a second time, is 1-3 as a playoff starter and was inactive when the Ravens reached the postseason last year.

Allen, meantime, is 4-4 in the playoffs. He helped the Bills reach the AFC championship game after the 2020 season, and he was 13 seconds from getting back there in 2021.

Rudolph isn’t particularly close with Allen but said they caught up briefly in August when the Bills played the Steelers in the preseason at Acrisure Stadium.

“He’s a good human and obviously a great player,” Rudolph said.

Former Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert didn’t have a crystal ball heading into that draft, but he predicted at the 2018 NFL Combine that finding the cream of that quarterback crop would be a crapshoot.

“You have to sort through that group and make sure we can predict their ability to succeed in the NFL because the majority of them are coming from a spread concept,” he said. “That lends challenges to us to be able to identify NFL traits within those concepts, so that we can make good decisions if we decided to pick a quarterback.”

Playing in an Air Raid offense at Oklahoma State is one reason Rudolph dropped out of the first round. After the Steelers selected him at No. 76 overall, Rudolph was surprised he was on the board that late. And ticked off about it. Of his first-round snub, Rudolph said on a conference call, “It will stick with me every minute, every hour until the day I die.”

If Rudolph continues to hold a grudge, he’s not saying so publicly. And given the path his career has taken, he has no time to remain bitter. Not after leading the Steelers to three consecutive victories that helped them reach the playoffs as the AFC’s final seed.

On multiple occasions, Rudolph has said he is “grateful” and “thankful” to make those starts after opening the season third on the Steelers’ depth chart. And, this weekend, he gets a chance to join three of his more celebrated draftmates as a playoff starter.

“As a backup quarterback most of my career, you’re very urgent,” he said. “There’s a sense of urgency whenever you get to play, so that’s the approach.”