What a difference a year makes for Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Just last year, Roethlisberger contemplated retirement and Steelers fans panicked about what might happen if he did decide to hang up the cleats.
Fast forward a year and Roethlisberger has made it very clear that he is unhappy that the Steelers decided to draft Mason Rudolph in the third round. He had said earlier this week that Rudolph wouldn't see the field for a while because he planned to play 3-5 more years.
Friday on the Cook and Poni show, he questioned how this helped make the team better right now.
“So, I was surprised when they took a quarterback,” Roethlisberger said Friday, “because I thought that maybe in the third round, you can get some really good football players that can help this team now. And nothing against Mason, I think he's a great football player … I just don't know how backing up or being the third guy, who knows where he's going to fall on the depth chart, but helps us win now.”
He went on to say that he's not worried about his job security but he does feel bad for Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs, the other two quarterbacks on the roster.
“Those two guys are who I feel the worst for,” Roethlisberger offered. “I'll be honest, I wasn't worried about [Rudolph] coming and taking my job. I feel confident that I can go out and beat whoever I need to beat out for my job. … I do feel bad for those guys.
“I don't know what's going to happen. I assume Landry's still the two, I don't really know. And Josh, same thing. Last year you take him in the fourth round, so does that mean the Steelers screwed up in that pick? Like do they think that he wasn't the one that they thought, or has he not developed the way they thought? Why else would you take a quarterback in the third round the next year?”
It will be interesting to see how these comments are taken by the rest of the team, but it's pretty clear there is a disconnect between Big Ben and the Steelers Front Office.
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