When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round last season, the pressure was on him to replace the legendary Ben Roethlisberger. On this week’s Footbahlin Podcast, Roethlisberger got very candid about how he felt watching Pickett take over the starting quarterback job in Pittsburgh.
“I’m gonna be sure transparent about this. I’m gonna get blasted, I probably shouldn’t say this,” Roethlisberger said. “Early on, I didn’t want you to succeed…That’s selfishness in me and I feel sorry for that.”
Hard to fault a guy who spent his entire NFL career giving everything he had to a team and then watching a young guy come in and start while you still thought you could play. It’s good that Roethlisberger was able to work past the pettiness and start to root for Pickett and his success with the Steelers.
Roethlisberger and all of Steeler Nation had better get used to seeing Pickett out there playing and continuing to get better. No one is saying he will do what Roethlisberger did but the team is certainly in good hands.
