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Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, for the first time since the start of voluntary offseason workouts, participated with the team on Wednesday. His absence has been a notable given that he has been the franchise quarterback for the Steelers for more than the last decade.
With all that chatter in mind, Roethlisberger addressed the situation stating that he would have been present for all the team's OTAs had head coach Mike Tomlin asked him to be there from the get-go, according to Lauren Kirschman of Pennlive.com.
Article Continues Below“If coach asked me to be here every day, I would be here every day,” Roethlisberger said, “but they haven't asked me to do that. I've worked with [offensive coordinator] Randy Fichtner for eight years now, so it's not like he's a new guy coming in that work is necessary.
“So, we've got a lot of same guys back on offense. A lot of the stuff is plays that we've been doing before a lot of guys got here, that I've been doing a long time.”
Roethlisberger's response gives more of the sense that he feels that he is more than comfortable with the offensive system in place having already worked with offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner for the last eight years. There is likely nothing new that he needs to learn despite Fichtner taking over in place of Todd Haley, who held that role with the team for the past six years.
What should also be taken into consideration is that it there is still plenty of time for him to get more practice time with his teammates ahead of the start of both the preseason and regular season. It's more than reasonable ponder why he hasn't been involved in the entire offseason workout process, but he is not back in the fold.
There isn't much to be concerned on this front with much of the attention being solely focused on the lingering contract extension situation with star running back Le'Veon Bell, who has yet to ink the franchise tag that has been placed him for the second straight year.
