Last month, the NFL world was hit with some pretty surprising news when former Pittsburgh Steelers star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger revealed that the San Francisco 49ers reached out to his agent to gauge his interest in potentially coming out of retirement as the team dealt with injuries at the position. And this week, Roethlisberger doubled down on that story.
In March, Roethlisberger told Mark Madden of 105.9 The X that the 49ers reached out to his agent at one point during the season to “gauge interest.”
“They were, I think, reaching out maybe just to gauge my interest,” Roethlisberger told Madden in March, according to Pro Football Talk. “I had discussions. . . . I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was a small part of me that was intrigued. I could still do it and prove to people that I could still play. At the end of the day, I just can’t see myself in anything other than black and gold.”
And during the latest episode of Footbahlin’ with Ben Roethlisberger, the former Steelers quarterback once again insisted that the conversation happened.
“Listen, again, I’ll reiterate,” Roethlisberger said, “it was them calling my agent just to gauge interest. . . . They called but, again, I’ll reiterate. It was gauging interest.”
Obviously, Roethlisberger stayed retired, but it’s certainly interesting that the Niners called in the first place.
About Kevin Harrish