Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger unexpectedly broke the silence on his past beef with ex-teammate Mason Rudolph.
In 2018, Roethlisberger admitted that he was “surprised” by the Steelers’ decision to draft Rudolph in the third round. On top of that, Roethlisberger made it clear that he wouldn’t help mentor his new teammate.
Rudolph appeared to take a shot at Roethlisberger last week when he talked about the “helpful” Steelers’ quarterback room:
Speaking on a new edition of his “Footbahlin” podcast (h/t Allison Koehler of Steelers Wire), Roethlisberger addressed the past beef with Rudolph. Roethlisberger claims there was no issue “personally” with Rudolph, but he simply disagreed with the decision to take a QB that early:
“When Mason played for me, I was trying to help Mason as much as I could. Then he just he never… he didn’t want my help anymore, so I backed off…I never had an issue with Mason when he got drafted. I’m going to put it out there now. I had more of an issue with the pick…
We were a really good football team, and he was drafted early. I just felt like we could have maybe picked a player that could have helped us at the moment. We were still a team that was that was competing. I was not worried about him taking my job.
I know some people probably… I thought that was not an issue for me. I felt that we could have drafted a position — offense or defense — that could have helped us. Not a guy that was going to be a potential backup, sure maybe have the the job in the future. That’s where I was more frustrated. It had nothing to do with Mason personally.”
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The Steelers were coming off a 13-win season and fell just short of reaching the AFC Championship Game for a second straight year. So many were indeed surprised when they used the No. 78 pick on Rudolph, especially since Roethlisberger hadn’t yet showed any signs of decline.
Some of the top players taken after Rudolph included offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr., tight end Mark Andrews and defensive end Josh Sweat. The Steelers finished a disappointing 9-6-1 and missed out on the postseason, having lost four of their final six games by a single possession.
Five years later, Rudolph finally has his chance to play hero. He’s won his last two starts and can help the Steelers clinch a 10-win season with a victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday, though Pittsburgh will need some help to sneak into the postseason as well.
