When Mason Rudolph originally got injured in Week 16, the Pittsburgh Steelers believed he had dislocated his shoulder. Upon further examination, Rudolph's injury was discovered to be more serious than originally thought.

I thought it was a bad AC sprain,” Rudolph said on Wednesday, via Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazet. “I played a couple more plays and throws with it. Adrenaline was still pumping. Once I came over to the sideline it stiffened up and I was like, ‘I can’t even move my left arm or left side of my body.’ It was pretty painful.”

Rudolph was asked to step in for Devlin Hodges in Week 16 against the New York Jets due to Hodges' struggles from under center. Not too long after he appeared in the game, he made an early exit after taking a hit to his shoulder.

The second-year quarterback out of Oklahoma State will need at least two months to recover from a posterior sternoclavicular dislocation — an injury that could negatively affect the vital structures of his clavicle. On Tuesday, Mike Tomlin announced that the Steelers would be comfortable with Rudolph as Ben Roethlisberger's backup in 2020.

Following Roethlisberger's season-ending injury in Week 2, Rudolph started in eight games. In those eight contests, Rudolph managed to throw for 1,765 yards, 13 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

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Due to his poor decision-making, Pittsburgh benched him in favor of Hodges later in the season. But with the team's playoff hopes hanging in the balance, they attempted to go back to Rudolph.

The Steelers will head into the 2020 season with the belief that Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph will be healthy. It remains to be seen if that will be the case once training camp begins next summer.