Emergency Buccaneers-Steelers trade proposal after Baker Mayfield’s injury

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers couldn’t script a worse start to the season. The Bucs are 0-3 after handing Baker Mayfield a three-year, $165 million extension. The bad vibes from last season’s brutal finish have carried over, and now Mayfield is out for at least three weeks with a thumb injury, per head coach Todd Bowles.

That bumps undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels into the QB1 role. While the Bucs were confident enough in Daniels to carry him into the season as their primary backup, it’s hard to believe the Kansas product can dig Tampa out of this hole. There aren’t any quick fixes readily available, but the team should probably scour the trade market for a more established, steady-handed backup. The Pittsburgh Steelers happen to have a quarterback surplus.

This Buccaneers-Steelers trade lands Mason Rudolph in Tampa

The Bucs should try to lure the Steelers into a Will Howard or Drew Allar trade, just because there’s more long-term potential with Pittsburgh’s young bucks. Who’s to say Mayfield is even the quarterback in Tampa two years from now, with how things are going? That said, Pittsburgh is probably resistant to trading Howard and especially Allar. A more realistic target would be Mason Rudolph, a seven-year NFL veteran with 19 career starts under his belt.

The Giants just acquired third-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy from the Vikings for a fifth-round pick. Rudolph is a rental and there’s far less perceived upside, but he’s also a better immediate stopgap. The Bucs can still win the division, so let’s call it a sixth-round pick and phone it in.

Buccaneers can trust Mason Rudolph to hold down the fort

Rudolph is a classic plug-and-play backup. He’s a standard pocket passer with size and a decent arm, completing 64.3 percent of his passes across seven NFL campaigns. He has appeared in 13 games (six starts) over the last two years, throwing 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The Titans gave him a trial run as QB1 in 2024, which went poorly, but Rudolph has consistently thrived in spot starts for Pittsburgh, with whom he has spent every season of his NFL career with the exception of 2024.

The Buccaneers can’t expect Rudolph to come in and light up the scoreboard, but he’s a proven distributor with the poise and IQ necessary to prop up an offense he only half-understands schematically. It’s tough to integrate a new quarterback midseason, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Luckily for Rudolph, he’d have better weapons in Tampa than he’s used to with the Steelers. Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin is a solid one-two punch, while Cade Otten is a viable No. 3 target in the tight end role. Zac Robinson’s second year as an OC (after struggling last season in Atlanta) is not off to the hottest start, but he hails from the Sean McVay coaching tree in L.A. and he clearly commands respect around the league.

Tampa’s upcoming schedule is light on quality defenses, aside from (ironically) the Steelers in Week 5. That should help ease Rudolph’s transition.

Steelers need to plan for their youth movement

Aaron Rodgers bought himself a week off in the discourse cycle with a vintage performance in Pittsburgh’s Week 3 victory over Cincinnati. Still, it’s hard to trust the 42-year-old completely. The Mike McCarthy relationship means Rodgers will start until the wheels fall off, but it’s his last season regardless. It will be the dawn of a new era in 2027.

The Steelers could target a quarterback in the loaded 2027 NFL Draft class, but there’s a nonzero chance Rodgers’ successor is already on the roster. Allar in particular thrived in preseason. It’s only preseason, but talent has never been a question here; He had one of the strongest arms in college football at Penn State. The concerns, which dropped him to the third round in April’s draft, centered on processing and decision-making, and he made noticeable strides in his limited preseason exposure. If Allar can clean up the fundamentals without sacrificing his aggression, there’s every reason to believe he can carve out a long and productive NFL career.

Since Pittsburgh will either sink or swim with Rodgers this season, there’s no harm is elevating Allar to the role of primary backup. Should Rodgers get hurt, expectations for the season are out the window. That can give Allar a trial run before the offseason, with second-year QB Will Howard waiting in the wings, deserving of his own test drive. Rudolph has earned his keep in Pittsburgh over the years, but he doesn’t serve much purpose on this Steelers team. Trading him for even marginal value is a win.