Ben Roethlisberger isn't going to be challenged by Mason Rudolph. Roethlisberger is the Steelers' quarterback.
But the dynamic between the two at training camp should be interesting to watch. Roethlisberger is as competitive a player as I've been around. During downtime at camp, the players will take part in little games, placing wagers on who will win. It could be standing at a spot on the field and trying to hit the goal post with a throw. It could be trying to throw the ball into a garbage can. It could be anything.
Roethlisberger doesn't like to lose. And most of the time, he doesn't.
That will be ramped up even more in this camp. Roethlisberger has never been in a situation like this. The Steelers have had other quarterbacks -- Tommy Maddox, Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich and even Bruce Gradkowski -- who have been starters during Roethlisberger's time with the team. But outside his first season, when he was slated to be the backup to Maddox, Roethlisberger has always been The Guy.
The bet here, though, is that Rudolph will be very popular with the fan base. Perhaps even equal to Roethlisberger.
We already saw how Roethlisberger responded to the Steelers selecting Rudolph in the third round of the draft. He obviously wasn't happy about it. Imagine his reaction if the team had taken a quarterback in the first round. Realistically, it doesn't make any difference whether Rudolph was selected in the first or third round. He's viewed as the possible quarterback of the future. And the quarterback of the present isn't ready to give up the reins just yet.
Roethlisberger said all of the right things when he showed up at OTAs. But there's no denying the presence of Rudolph should make for an interesting camp and preseason.
• All of that said, there's no chance Rudolph beats out Landry Jones as the No. 2 quarterback. None. Nada. Zip.
For all of the teeth-gnashing over Jones' play over the years, it's actually been pretty good in the regular season as evidenced by his 86.2 career passer rating. More importantly, Roethlisberger and Jones have built up a trust and the rest of the team respects Jones.
How important is that? Remember when Roethlisberger was forced to replace Maddox three games into the 2004 season and Alan Faneca famously said, "No, it's not exciting. Do you want to go work with some little young kid who's just out of college?"
Faneca knew the Steelers had a good team that year. But Roethlisberger was an unknown -- albeit a talented one, selected with the 11th pick in the draft. Faneca, of course, didn't know then the Steelers would go 13-0 with Roethlisberger at quarterback en route to a 15-1 record.
Veteran players don't like the unknown. And despite the fact Rudolph will probably take 75 percent of the snaps in the preseason, he'll still largely be an unknown.
• In case you missed it this week, Le'Veon Bell posted this:
I do not forget a thing, I'm patient, it's a gift... pic.twitter.com/BtyM6BWeJ9
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) July 12, 2018
What does that mean? Only Bell really knows.
But given that he posted it Wednesday, less than a week before the 4 p.m. Monday deadline for he and the Steelers to get a contract extension completed, it does give the appearance he was unhappy with the team's latest offer and will file that away for the future.
• Can the Steelers and Bell get a deal completed? Why not?
He's scheduled to make $14.5 million this year, guaranteed. It's not much of a burden on the team to up that somewhat to get something done. Again, the sticking point will be the guaranteed money.
• Those people who are quick to want to run Bell out of town need to remember these names: Greg Hawthorne, Walter Abercrombie, Tim Worley and Rashard Mendenhall.
Those are the four running backs selected by the Steelers in the first round in the years after they took Franco Harris in the first round of the 1972 draft. Combined, they had two 1,000-yard rushing seasons, both of which were accomplished by Mendenhall.
And according to some, Mendenhall was a bust -- though I wholeheartedly disagree.
Point is, simply drafting a running back and expecting him to replace Bell is not realistic. After all, you're talking about a two-time All-Pro, not replacing Isaac Redman.
No offense to Redman intended.
• If the Pirates aren't going to play Austin Meadows, then perhaps they should send him back to Class AAA, as Lance Lysowski wrote Thursday that the team is considering.
After hitting .409 in his first month and .314 over his first two, Meadows was 7 for 29 (.241) in July going into Friday night's game against Milwaukee, when he was again not in the starting lineup.
It's not doing one of your top prospects any good to get just 29 at bats and appear in just 11 games -- five as a pinch-hitter -- in a month.
Everyone agrees Starling Marte and Corey Dickerson need to be playing. The biggest reason right now that Meadows isn't playing can be placed at the feet of Josh Bell.
If Bell were hitting home runs with any kind of regularity -- or at all, for that matter -- Clint Hurdle wouldn't feel the need to keep running Gregory Polanco out there. But right now, Polanco and his 13 home runs, however streakily they come, are the only chance for some quick offense this team has. Instead, Bell has five homers in 312 at bats, putting him on pace to struggle to get to 10 this year.
If Bell were anywhere near the pace he was on last season, when he hit 26 homers, Polanco would be on the bench a lot more often and Meadows would be playing.
Bell's power outage is one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the 2018 Pirates.