New Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike McCarthy admitted that he had some preconceived expectations about returning quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Will Howard.
The QB guru said Howard moves better than he expected. “He’s a lot more athletic than I realized in his lower half,” McCarthy said Wednesday.
McCarthy also said he noticed that Rudolph throws the ball with more zip than he anticipated.
“He really throws it better than I realized,” McCarthy said. “I think it’s like anything in the quarterback world. Until you really stand next to him and you’re out there with him, you don’t really understand the true velocity of how each one of these guys throws the football.”
In the case of both men, it’s now up to them to shake any further doubts McCarthy may have had about them before these organized team activities began, as they battle for the third QB spot on the Steelers roster.
While those two are likely squaring off for the second slot on the depth chart, the first and third are spoken for. Aaron Rodgers will be the starter. Drew Allar isn’t getting cut after just being drafted in the third round a month ago.
So, unless one of those three is given a phantom injury for an IR designation — or unless the Steelers surprisingly keep four quarterbacks — Rudolph or Howard will be traded or cut.
That means they need to show an ability to adapt. Especially Rudolph.
For a quarterback mechanic like McCarthy, Howard is an unwrapped toy. Unmolded clay. Whatever is wrong with him mechanically can be fixed. Howard is only 24 and has never thrown an incompletion in the National Football League.
Rudolph is a different story. While coaches such as McCarthy view his experience as a positive, they also tend to see any negatives in his game as things that need to be broken down and completely rebuilt.
Fortunately for Rudolph, McCarthy isn’t putting Rudolph in that bucket even though he’ll turn 31 in July.
“When you get veteran players, particularly quarterbacks, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” McCarthy said of Rudolph. “That’s not the case with him.”
For Rudolph, those tricks focus on improving footwork.
“He’s been very receptive towards the footwork training,” McCarthy said.
“There are different ways to come away from center when you’re under center. There are different ways of how you stand, your stance in the gun, pressure points, how you step to the football, what your first step looks like. Things like that.”
Rudolph is embracing the coaching.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with Coach McCarthy, offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio,” Rudolph said Wednesday. “I enjoy this offense. It’s opening it up quite a bit, so it’s been fun learning it.”
Rudolph also hasn’t been put off by Howard getting second-team reps at OTAs.
“That’s kind of been communicated. You have two young quarterbacks. That was the case when I got in (with Josh Dobbs). That’s the normal mode of operation,” Rudolph said.
Rudolph’s game isn’t perfect. McCarthy may be a skilled technician, but he’s never going to get it to that level.
However, Rudolph is worth keeping as a backup. And for a team that is in “win now” mode to the extent that the front office chased a 42-year-old signal caller the entire offseason, cutting a viable veteran backup in Rudolph in order to keep a question-mark prospect in Howard as the top reserve would make little sense.
Unless that “old dog” can’t master the new tricks.
LISTEN: Tim Benz and Chris Adamski discuss the Steelers in the newest “Offseason Podcast.”