Ben Roethlisberger says Mason Rudolph has his story backwards.
Rudolph, the Steelers’ former third-string quarterback who has since seized the starting job, indicated recently that Roethlisberger didn’t offer much advice to him during their four seasons together in the Steel City.
“When Mason played for me, I was trying to help Mason as much as I could,” Roethlisberger said during a Dec. 31 live stream of his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger’” podcast, as transcribed by Steelers Wire. “Then, he just, he never … he didn’t want my help anymore, so I backed off.”
Rudolph, who was Roethlisberger’s teammate from 2018-21, had a different recollection.
While he didn’t outright name Roethlisberger, Rudolph all but said Roethlisberger could have been a better mentor.
“(Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett) were very helpful (recently),” Rudolph said Dec. 27 about the two quarterbacks he’s now starting over. “I got a lot of respect and enjoy their company very much, both of them, and there’s always great – no matter who played, there’s always great communication and everyone is truly trying to make the other person better, find the nugget if they see something, suggest something that’s truly going to help us out, as opposed to there’s been other times when it’s not been as cohesive as a group and people aren’t as forthcoming with, ‘Hey, how do we help?’”
Rudolph has replaced Pickett and Trubisky as the Steelers starter and led them to back-to-back wins over the Bengals and Seahawks.
Rudolph has thrown for 564 yards and two touchdowns in the two wins, resurrecting his career and the team’s playoff chances.
If the Steelers beat the resting Ravens on Saturday, they need a loss from the Jaguars or Bills to earn a wild-card spot.
Roethlisberger, who retired after the 2021 season, said he did not have any issues with Rudolph.
However, he would have preferred if the team had not used its third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft on a quarterback at a time when the Steelers were competing for championships.
Pittsburgh traded up to select Rudolph with the 76th pick, and he appeared in 17 games during the 2019-21 seasons, including eight starts in the 2019 campaignn.
“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,” Roethlisberger said, according to Steelers Wire. “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.
He added: “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.”
The Steelers missed the playoffs in both the 2018 and 2019 seasons, and then lost in the wild-card round in each of Roethlisberger’s last two seasons.
Ironically, the Steelers used their first first-round pick in the post-Roethlisberger era on a quarterback in Pickett, who has struggled with health and consistency this season.
“I was not worried about him taking my job,” Roethlisberger said. “I know some people probably … I thought that was not an issue for me.”