I see the Titans have signed Mason Rudolph to a one-year contract. They are intrigued, apparently, by the productive run Rudolph put together late last year.
Rudolph, recall, was quietly one of the most surprising quarterbacks of last season. Pittsburgh’s offense sputtered pretty much all year. Rudolph was their third-string quarterback. They put him into the lineup in Week 16, and they started scoring points and winning games.
Rudolph went 3-0 as a starter, with a passer rating over 112 in all of those games. He averaged 9.7 yards per pass attempt, which was more than any regular starter.
The Steelers talked some about having Rudolph compete with Kenny Pickett for their starting job. Then they changed their minds, instead obtaining Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
So Rudolph is instead if off to Tennessee, where he signed a one-year deal worth $2.8 million. He’ll likely open the season as their backup behind Will Levis. Should he wind up in the lineup at some point, he’ll be throwing to a decent pair of receivers (DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley), along with a pair of running backs who combined for 107 catches last year.
If we’re in one of those best-ball leagues where everybody is drafting 4-5 quarterbacks, I guess this makes Rudolph as last-round consideration. He would make sense to pair with Levis, securing 17 games of quarterbacking from what should be a modest offense.
I played around some with the numbers on this. I see 16 other quarterbacks who started less than half of a season, attempted at least 100 passes and finished with a passer rating over 100. (Rudolph, by the way, attempted only 74 regular-season passes – I added in his playoff loss at Buffalo to get him up to the 100-pass threshold).
| LIGHTLY USED QUARTERBACKS WITH PASSER RATINGS OVER 100 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Com | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 1986 | Steve Grogan, N.E. | 62 | 102 | 60.8 | 976 | 9 | 2 | 113.8 |
| 1997 | Boomer Esiason, Cin. | 118 | 186 | 63.4 | 1478 | 13 | 2 | 106.9 |
| 1992 | Wade Wilson, Atl. | 111 | 163 | 68.1 | 1366 | 13 | 4 | 110.1 |
| 1994 | Dave Krieg, Det. | 131 | 212 | 61.8 | 1629 | 14 | 3 | 101.7 |
| 1997 | Eric Zeier, Balt. | 67 | 116 | 57.8 | 958 | 7 | 1 | 101.1 |
| 1998 | Rob Johnson, Buff. | 67 | 107 | 62.6 | 910 | 8 | 3 | 102.9 |
| 2000 | Trent Green, St.L. | 145 | 240 | 60.4 | 2063 | 16 | 5 | 101.8 |
| 2002 | Marc Bulger, St.L. | 138 | 214 | 64.5 | 1826 | 14 | 6 | 101.5 |
| 2007 | Todd Collins, Was. | 67 | 105 | 63.8 | 888 | 5 | 0 | 106.4 |
| 2013 | Josh McCown, Chi. | 149 | 224 | 66.5 | 1829 | 13 | 1 | 109.0 |
| 2017 | Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 126 | 204 | 61.8 | 1699 | 19 | 8 | 103.0 |
| 2018 | Ryan Fitzpatrick, T.B. | 164 | 246 | 66.7 | 2366 | 17 | 12 | 100.4 |
| 2020 | C.J. Beathard, S.F. | 66 | 104 | 63.5 | 787 | 6 | 0 | 105.7 |
| 2021 | Jameis Winston, N.O. | 95 | 161 | 59.0 | 1170 | 14 | 3 | 102.8 |
| 2022 | Brock Purdy, S.F. | 114 | 170 | 67.1 | 1374 | 13 | 4 | 107.3 |
| 2023 | Kirk Cousins, Min. | 216 | 311 | 69.5 | 2331 | 18 | 5 | 103.8 |
| 2023 | Mason Rudolph, Pitt. | 77 | 113 | 68.1 | 948 | 5 | 1 | 104.9 |
If we look at how those quarterbacks then performed in their next season, I don’t see a Rudolph-type player who then blossomed into something. I see top-10 seasons from Deshaun Watson, Marc Bulger and Brock Purdy, but those were different kinds of prospects heading into those seasons.
Titans signed Rudolph with the hope of landing a credible backup, I think, rather than a possible starter option.
| 100-RATING QUARTERBACKS IN NEXT SEASON | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Com | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 1987 | Steve Grogan, N.E. | 93 | 161 | 57.8 | 1183 | 10 | 9 | 78.2 |
| 1993 | Wade Wilson, N.O. | 221 | 388 | 57.0 | 2457 | 12 | 15 | 70.1 |
| 1995 | Dave Krieg, Ari. | 304 | 521 | 58.3 | 3554 | 16 | 21 | 72.6 |
| 1998 | Eric Zeier, Balt. | 107 | 181 | 59.1 | 1312 | 4 | 3 | 82.0 |
| 1999 | Rob Johnson, Buff. | 25 | 34 | 73.5 | 298 | 2 | 0 | 119.5 |
| 2001 | Trent Green, K.C. | 296 | 523 | 56.6 | 3783 | 17 | 24 | 71.1 |
| 2003 | Marc Bulger, St.L. | 336 | 532 | 63.2 | 3845 | 22 | 22 | 81.4 |
| 2009 | Todd Collins, Was. | 12 | 23 | 52.2 | 144 | 0 | 0 | 71.6 |
| 2014 | Josh McCown, T.B. | 184 | 327 | 56.3 | 2206 | 11 | 14 | 70.5 |
| 2018 | Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 345 | 505 | 68.3 | 4165 | 26 | 9 | 103.1 |
| 2019 | Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mia. | 311 | 502 | 62.0 | 3529 | 20 | 13 | 85.5 |
| 2021 | C.J. Beathard, Jac. | 2 | 2 | 100.0 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 154.2 |
| 2022 | Jameis Winston, N.O. | 73 | 115 | 63.5 | 858 | 4 | 5 | 79.5 |
| 2023 | Brock Purdy, S.F. | 308 | 444 | 69.4 | 4280 | 31 | 11 | 113.0 |
—Ian Allan