While the Steelers await Aaron Rodgers to make a decision, they at least shored up the quarterback position by reuniting with Mason Rudolph. And while "Rodgers Watch" continues, this seemed like a good time to see what Rudolph did in five starts and eight total games with the Titans.

Last we saw Rudolph, he helped lead the team to a playoff berth with three phenomenal performances to close out the 2023 regular season. The team ran into the buzzsaw known as the Bills and the Cinderella story came to an end. While we know what that version of Rudolph looked like, it's important to see what he did most recently.

Rudolph is only about to enter his age 30 season, so it's not like he's on some physical decline. We know what kind of arm he has. But, how was his decision-making? Did he continue to display a strong, unwavering presence in the pocket? He threw nine interceptions in eight games. Was all of that his fault?

Just for an exercise like this, I watched back every single one of Rudolph's 250 dropbacks to evaluate his game. Starting with those nine interceptions, two of them were undoubtedly not his fault. They were passes that straight up hit off his receivers' hands and wound up in the opponent's possession, like this one against the Patriots:

Sure, the throw is a little high here, but this isn't a ball that should be dropped or deflected, either. I'm not pinning this one on Rudolph.

One other one was similar, and another interception was a end-of-game heave with threes seconds left and the ball on their own 11-yard line. Situationally, not the best play to evaluate Rudolph's caliber of play, either.

From watching the tape, there's not much that surprised me. The strengths that stood out in Pittsburgh were strengths in Tennessee. The flaws were similar, too. The overall stats are hard to take into account because he was on a bad football team. Really bad. There's a reason they have the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. They need more than a quarterback to fix things.

One thing I liked to see remain the same from the 2023 version of Rudolph was his willingness to stand tall in the pocket and be willing to let plays develop and make throws, even while under pressure:

This looks like 2023 Rudolph. He lets the play develop, doesn't get happy feet when the pocket collapses and finds the open man facing zone coverage to convert a third down.

Plays like these are so important and raise the offense's floor. Should an offense stay on schedule and get into significantly more third-and-3s instead of third-and-9s, Rudolph can do more than enough to move the chains.

He's good at finding the holes in zone coverages, specifically against Cover 3. I saw completions like these over and over again, attacking the window between the curl/flat and hook/curl for easy completions:

Rudolph's 2024 numbers against pressure and against the blitz are encouraging. While under pressure, Rudolph posted a 77.5 passer rating. That ranks 28th of all quarterback who had at least one dropback under pressure, and falls in the same arena as Josh Allen (80.9), Jayden Daniels (77.0), Justin Herbert (72.5) and C.J. Stroud (72.1). Against the blitz, posted a 92.6 passer rating as opposed to the 76.6 rating when facing four pass-rushers or less.

Rudolph can also make the occasional eye-popping play. That comes from a combination of having a good arm and knowing how to get through his reads. He also has grown to trust his eyes better.

This play against the Lions is a great example:

Rudolph does a great job of quickly working through his progression here. Play-action rollouts like these typically have three different options -- one on each level. He looks to the flat first, but the Lions have that covered. He works to the second level, which can be one of two options: He should keep running to the play side if it's man coverage or sit down if it's zone. He makes the right decision to sit in the soft spot, Rudolph finds it with two guys in his face and makes the throw to gain 33 yards.

There are still parts of Rudolph's 2024 performance that can cause concern if he ends up starting a lot of games. First, I noticed Rudolph get caught using tunnel vision too often. This led to some dangerous throws, and some very deserved interceptions:

Rudolph stares down the deep crosser here, and the deep safety reads him like a book. In turn, he jumps the route, picks it off and takes it back 33 yards. 

According to Pro Football Focus, Rudolph had eight turnover-worthy throws compared to only six big-time throws. As previously noted, not all of his interceptions would fall under the turnover-worthy category. However, he made other throws that weren't picked off but were dangerous enough to be deserving of a turnover. Compare that to just six big-time throws -- "a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window" -- and that's just not an even trade off.

For context, Russell Wilson was credited by PFF with 24 big-time throws in 12 total games last season, two per game. In Justin Fields' six starts, he was credited with six big-time throws, one per game. Rudolph's six big-time throws came during his five starts. That's a bit more often than Fields -- in a small sample size for both quarterbacks -- but Rudolph also doesn't possess Fields' dangerous dual-threat ability.

Another alarming flaw in Rudolph's 2024 performance was the difference between him getting rid of the ball quickly versus holding onto the ball. I expect numbers to be better when the ball is released quickly. That means the ball is coming out on time and toward the intended target prior to the snap. And looking across the league, the overall passer rating on passes thrown in less than 2.5 seconds is significantly higher than passes thrown beyond such time.

Of 80 quarterbacks who threw at least one pass in under 2.5 seconds, 48 of them posted a passer rating of 90.0 or better. Rudolph's passer rating on such passes was 75.1, ranking 66th. Four of his nine interceptions came on these quick throws. As we saw above, one of them was not really his fault, but the other three were. One of them also hit a receiver's hands and wound up being intercepted, but Rudolph took a risk and tried to squeeze the throw in a tight window:

Rudolph's passer rating was better when he held onto the ball longer than 2.5 second (84.4). But, my concern is having a young offensive line in front of him. Rudolph will need to be more efficient when making quick throws. Getting rid of the ball quickly aids the offensive line immensely. Of those 80 aforementioned quarterbacks, 50 of them had a positive pass EPA on quick throws. Rudolph's pass EPA was -15.1, the fifth-worst among them.

Taking everything into account, I still feel Rudolph is a better fit in Pittsburgh. The weapons at his disposal are significantly better than he had in Tennessee. That will elevate his game. And his ability to move the chains and willingness to let plays develop from the pocket will help the offense stay on schedule more often.

However, there's enough evidence on the tape and in the data to quell any hopes of Rudolph moving the needle enough to elevate the Steelers to the level of being able to at least win a playoff game. He can absolutely make the occasional big throw, but the inefficiency on short throws and some inconsistency on intermediate and downfield throws could hold back the offense.

I think if Rudolph is the quarterback of a well-oiled machine, specifically an offense that is phenomenal and efficient at running the football, he's a very capable quarterback. That's because he'd be asked to manage the offense rather than drive it. Asking him to do the latter is a bit dangerous.

Bringing Rudolph back gives the Steelers a very solid option as a backup. Not only can he manage the offense if the starter is out, but he can start games if needed. Having Rudolph raises the overall floor of the quarterback room. That's what backups should do. They also shouldn't strike fear in fans if he's asked to step in for an injured starter for a series or a couple games.

I think bringing Rudolph back was a shrewd move by Omar Khan, especially on a very affordable two-year, $8-million contract. But, based on his most recent form, elevating him to QB1 right away doesn't give the Steelers a great chance to meet their lofty goals.