Long wait for QB pick on second night
ARLINGTON, TEXAS» Maybe NFL teams got exhausted from scrambling to pick quarterbacks in the first round of the draft.
It took until the 76th overall slot Friday night, 44 picks after the last one, that Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph was selected by Pittsburgh. The Steelers get a big, strong-armed, highly competitive QB — yep, sounds a lot like incumbent Ben Roethlisberger, who is 36 and closing in on the end of his championship career.
“It’s not Ben’s job to teach me anything. It’s my job to learn,” said Rudolph, who added he dreamed of becoming a Steeler.
Pittsburgh has had little success with backups for Big Ben, with another Oklahoma product, Landry Jones, never approaching the Roethlisberger level.
When Oklahoma State played at Heinz Field last year and won 5921, Rudolph threw for five touchdowns in the first half.
Five quarterbacks went on Thursday night, from top overall pick Baker Mayfield (coincidentally, a Sooner) to Lamar Jackson of Louisville at No. 32. Then, nothing.
Until Rudolph, who was not on hand.
Rudolph will join James Washington, his main target at Oklahoma State and Pittsburgh’s secondround choice.
“To go on to the next chapter with one of your brothers and the best receiver you’ve spent your whole college days with and maybe spend 15 years with,” Rudolph said, “it’s awesome.”
Also not present when his name was called 59th overall by Washington was LSU running back Derrius Guice. Guice was among the 22 players on hand for the opening round, but he cleared out after not being chosen. The Redskins grabbed him well after the hardrunning power back had departed.
“It did surprise me because a lot of the things came out of nowhere and weren’t true,” he said of sliding, reportedly for off-field character issues, “and I just didn’t understand why me out of all people, because I’m great to everybody. I have a great personality and I just didn’t understand why everything just hit so hard with me out of everybody.
“I’m just thankful to know that this whole process is over with, that an organization believed in me and trusted in me and I’m just ready to get to work.”