Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Takes Wild Shot At Rookie From His Final Year

Despite a frustratingly quiet trade deadline for many fans, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still all in on what they want to do for both right now and in the long run. They still have a good mix of youth and veterans on offense, and it may be a good thing that the young guys are not held back by a veteran that was acquired for a Day 3 pick in a potential deal. It is still set up to operate the way Aaron Rodgers wants it to, and if they can get some consistency, it can be a true threat. 

While hosting his show Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger spoke about all the moves that the Steelers made in the 2025 offseason to help supplement Rodgers, even though he was not signed until June. He used that to take a little friendly jab at the team, but at the same time, he teed off on one of his former teammates. 

"I still think it's funny, because they’re giving Aaron [Rodgers] DK and all these things, and I got a center that never played center before in my last year," Roethlisberger said. "It's amazing."

The player that Roethlisberger was referring to is Kendrick Green, who had the tough task of filling Maurkice Pouncey's shoes. The problem was that he was a guard in college, and he had very few reps at center during his time at the collegiate level. The Steelers even announced him as a center when they selected him in the draft, as they told the world that they planned to make this kid change positions immediately. 

That experiment was an absolute disaster for the Steelers. They had the opportunity to draft Creed Humphrey in the second round, who had a sky-high ceiling. Instead, they passed on him and watched him become arguably the best player at his position, while Green never quite developed in Pittsburgh. Even though second-round pick Pat Freiermuth is still a good player, losing out on Humphrey is a massive swing and a miss for the Black and Gold. 

After the preseason of 2023, which was Green's third season in the NFL, he was traded to the Houston Texans in exchange for a sixth-round pick. He started in his first season, was on the bench in his second season, and traded away after that. That will go down as one of the single worst draft picks of the Kevin Colbert era ever. 

Steelers Took Years To Recover From Green Pick

Freiermuth is a good weapon, but he could not single-handedly fix the offensive line, especially since he has never been much of a blocker himself. In 2022, the Steelers signed Mason Cole to the team, but his 2023 campaign was atrocious with botched snaps all over the place and questionable blocking. He was released after that season. 

The next time a franchise-caliber center fell into the Steelers' laps, they did not make that same mistake again. Zach Frazier was drafted in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and that is arguably the best pick of the Omar Khan era so far. He was seen as a top three center in the NFL in his rookie year, and the rebuilt offensive line started to take shape around him. 

Khan has been a much more aggressive general manager than Colbert, and it shows. When the Steelers went the cheap route for offense in Roethlisberger's final years, Khan spent most of his high-end draft capital on reinforcing the trenches, while also making trades to bring in playmakers like DK Metcalf and Jonnu Smith. Roethlisberger may still be a bit peeved about that.

What do you think about Roethlisberger taking a shot at Green out of nowhere on his show? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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