On Russ, Rodgers, Rudolph: A brief history of the Steelers' recent QB tragic comedy

Bon voyage, Russell Wilson. We hardly knew ye!

Oops, sorry.

We hardly knew yinz.

The veteran free-agent quarterback signed a one-year contract with the New York Giants on Tuesday. After just one season and 12 games as the Steelers starting quarterback, the Wilson era is over practically before it began.

Yet, at the same time, it felt like it lasted forever. Well, at least those final five games did.

So, for now, perpetually passed-over Mason Rudolph is atop the Steelers depth chart once more, as Wilson heads to New York to play for the Giants, and Aaron Rodgers may be coming from New York to play in Pittsburgh after washing out with the Jets.

Ironically, Wilson’s Pittsburgh understudy, Justin Fields, is joining the Jets to replace Rodgers.

Got all that?

Wilson’s departure is the latest chapter in a circle-of-life Shakespearean epic that has tied together those four quarterbacks — and others — in a way that already needs five years’ worth of historical reflection to truly appreciate.

• The multi-pronged, intertwined comedy/tragedy actually began way back in 2019 when the Steelers lost to Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, 28-26, in Pittsburgh during a Week 2 game.

That was the day Ben Roethlisberger suffered his franchise-altering elbow injury, and Rudolph was forced into the game. As history forgets, Rudolph played pretty well, going 12 of 19 for 112 yards two touchdowns, and an interception that went off the hands of Donte Moncrief.

From there, though, Rudolph had an uneven season, getting injured and benched at times for Devlin “Duck” Hodges.

Roethlisberger returned in 2020 and Rudolph only started one meaningful game over the next two years and tied one 16-16 against the woeful Detroit Lions.

• Fast-forward to that offseason. Roethlisberger retired. Rodgers and Wilson were at contract tipping points with Green Bay and Seattle, respectively. So was Derek Carr with the Raiders.

Rodgers ended up getting a three-year, $150 million contract to stay with the Packers, despite some in-season flirtation with Mike Tomlin and some verbal love notes about how much he liked Pittsburgh.

The Seahawks executed a trade-and-sign deal with Denver to move Wilson and a fourth-round pick to the Broncos in exchange for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick and three players. Wilson also got a $245 million, five-year deal in Denver.

Carr stayed with the Raiders for three years and $121.5 million. The Steelers needed a quarterback but largely didn’t get into the bidding war for those three high-priced QBs, preferring to go the inexpensive route by filling the void left by Roethlisberger with mid-tier free agent Mitch Trubisky.

For the most part (despite how we remember the story now) fans of the Steelers praised the franchise for avoiding those contracts, and presuming that the Steelers could sprinkle black-and-gold pixie dust on Trubisky’s head to fix whatever ailed him from his four years in Chicago before he was exiled to Buffalo as a backup.

I literally had Steelers fans telling me that Trubisky would be the best quarterback in the AFC North and that any criticism of the move was just attention-seeking behavior.

The Steelers then further convinced the fanbase that they were playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers when they doubled down at the position by drafting Pitt star QB Kenny Pickett in the first round.

During the preseason, fans booed Rudolph lustily despite some decent play. Before Week 1, the official Steelers depth chart was released. Rudolph was listed at second-string quarterback behind Trubisky and ahead of Pickett. The following day, Rudolph was demoted to third-string quarterback. Tomlin cited a “clerical error” in the initial release. Rudolph was relegated to third-string duties and did not receive a single snap that season.

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• Of course those moves blew up in the faces of every organization in 2022. Wilson had a terrible first year in Denver. The Raiders released Carr. Rodgers was traded to the Jets before the 2023 draft after going 8-9, and Trubisky got benched four games into his Steelers career in Pittsburgh, although Pickett and the Steelers missed the playoffs.

That’s a tough look for a guy who was supposed to make us forget about Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.

• In 2023, Rodgers snapped an Achilles tendon on the first series of his first game in New York. Wilson got benched by the end of the year with the Broncos.

Pickett got hurt late in the season for the Steelers. Trubisky was ineffective in relief, and Rudolph stepped in and won the last three games of the season to squeeze the Steelers into the playoffs, playing some of the best football of his pro career.

In the offseason though, the Steelers yet again turned away from Rudolph, letting him walk to Tennessee in free agency. They signed Wilson, traded Pickett, allowed Trubisky to go back to Buffalo, and acquired Fields from Chicago.

The Steelers (and their fans) yet again got intoxicated on the idea that the franchise was playing everything right, getting another former Bears quarterback they could fix (even though they didn’t do that the first time) and Wilson for $1 million while Denver had to pay $37 million of his contract.

• Everything was great until Wilson pushed a workout sled on Day 1 of training camp and injured his calf, causing him to miss the first six weeks.

While the Steelers made the playoffs with both Wilson and Fields having moments of good and bad, both are now in New York — failing to stay beyond one year in Pittsburgh.

Fields took Rodgers’ job with the Jets after he was released in the wake of a 5-12 season. Wilson is now a Giant, and — say it with me — Rudolph is back in Pittsburgh after a season splitting time with Will Levis in Tennessee and the listless Titans.

That said, it’s looking like he’ll be relegated to backup duty again as Rodgers’ arrival in Pittsburgh now seems imminent — four years after he started batting his eyelashes at Tomlin and the Steelers franchise.

For Wilson, Rodgers, Rudolph and the Steelers, it’s like “Les Miserables” in shoulder pads. Years go by, and these characters randomly intersect and walk through each other’s lives under some pretty lousy conditions.

“Les Miserables” ended in revolution. For the situations of these quarterbacks and the teams swept up in their collective vortex, it feels like they all still may be stuck in the sewers underground.