Ben Roethlisberger isn’t afraid to give his takes, especially if it concerns the Pittsburgh Steelers. Over the summer, the retired Steelers quarterback revealed that he felt head coach Mike Tomlin coddled players, a take that Steelers captain Cam Heyward took issue on.
Now, Roethlisberger has his own podcast. Because if you’re going to give out hot takes that will generate content from sites like ours, you may as well do it on your own show that you can promote and monetize. It’s just smart business.
Anyway, on episode one of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, Big Ben revealed who he felt should be Steelers quarterback between Mitchell Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, and rookie Kenny Pickett. While he praised the rookie, saying that Pickett has had a “great preseason” and “played really well,” Ben went with the five-year veteran they just signed.
“In my opinion, I think Mitchell Trubisky is the starter. He should start. I think he’s a veteran, he’s been around for a while. He gives you, in my opinion, the best chance to win right now. But I think Kenny has done a great job.”
Roethlisberger has a point. Trubisky is the veteran and he would give the Steelers the best chance to win right now. But is that really the point for the Steelers’ 2022 season? Let’s face it, the Steelers aren’t winning the Super Bowl and they’ll be lucky to make the playoffs. I’m not saying they should tank but they should make decisions that more benefit them in the long-term instead of short-term decisions that put them barely above .500 and losing the Wild Card game. Like starting an aging quarterback that has been hit so many times over the past 20 years that he could barely walk by the end of his NFL career.
The debate should instead be what is the best for Kenny Pickett? He’s the future so is it best to have him sit for a year and learn under Trubisky or have him start right away and learn on the fly? Roethlisberger said on the podcast it’s important to have Pickett sit out and learn, but that isn’t exactly how Ben’s career started. It might have been the original plan for him to sit out, but Tommy Maddox got injured in Week 2 and Roethlisberger wound up having the best rookie season for a quarterback ever. I’m not saying Pickett will do that but there is something to be said about a rookie getting playing time to either learn from his mistakes as he’s playing or become a rookie superstar. Either way, expect Big Ben to be revealing what he thinks throughout the season.
[Photo: Channel Seven]
