According to a story two weeks ago about agent Ryan Tollner by Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger reportedly sent Tollner a text message not suitable for sharing following the selection of Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier in the first round.
When I initially read that report, it didn’t seem like that big of deal, but apparently there was more to that text message after all. On Tuesday, Roethlisberger insinuated that he wasn’t overly pleased with the Steelers waiting until the fourth round to get him a “tall” wide receiver.
“I got caught up in doing what I always say not to do, and that’s listen to the media,” Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “[The Steelers] obviously have their agenda, the things they want, and they got two guys that they felt can help this team.”
Roethlisberger obviously got caught up in all of the offseason speculation that the Steelers would draft him a “tall” wide receiver early on in the draft. However, with Mike Evans already off the board by the time the Steelers first-round pick rolled around, I’m guessing that Roethlisberger thought that Florida State wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin should have been the pick.
It’s really hard to completely judge Roethlisberger’s quote when we don’t have the full context of it, but it doesn’t sound like he’s totally unhappy with the team drafting Dri Archer and Martavis Bryant. After all, not only is Bryant “tall”, he’s fast. Archer is fast as well, but he certainly won’t be mistaken as being “tall”.
I suspect that we haven’t heard the end of this and I expect that Roethlisberger will be asked to further clarify these comments over the course of the next few days or weeks. If this ends up being the biggest story of the offseason, the Steelers will be just fine, in my opinion.
Now it’s your turn. What do you think about Roethlisberger’s comments as they are currently being portrayed?
