Steelers' Mason Rudolph: Recovering from surgery

Rudolph (shoulder) had surgery last week to address a posterior sternoclavicular dislocation, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

The injury is considered to be a medical emergency because the displaced clavicle can puncture the aorta or trachea, among other things. Fortunately, Rudolph avoided any of the scarier outcomes while he remained in a trauma unit for three days after he had surgery. He anticipates a two-month recovery period, which could allow for participation at the beginning of Pittsburgh's offseason program. The 24-year-old quarterback played in 10 games in 2019 completing 176 of 283 passes for 1,765 yards with 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He likely will enter 2020 vying for a backup role behind Ben Roethlisberger, who had surgery on his right elbow Sept. 23. Coach Mike Tomlin suggested Rudolph will be ahead of Devlin Hodges when the team gets back to work in April, per Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.