During his Tuesday morning interview on 93.7 The Fan, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was reminded that the touchdown scored Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings by rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was his first official catch in the NFL. After talking a little about the progress Smith-Schuster has made so far during his rookie season, Roethlisberger had this to say:
“I’d love at some point when I retire to look back at the list of all the guys that caught their first NFL touchdown from me. I think it would be a pretty cool list.”
Well, Roethlisberger doesn’t have to wait until he retires to look at that list as I think I have them all compiled for him thanks to some quick research on Pro Football Reference. Additionally, it probably won’t take Roethlisberger long to look at the list of names.
The list of players who have scored their first NFL career touchdown via a pass from Roethlisberger now includes 19 names as of Sunday. The list of those players is below and in the order that they happened.
In case you’re wondering why Antonio Brown isn’t on the list, his first NFL touchdown came via a kickoff return.
In case you’re curious, Smith-Schuster became the 41st different player that Roethlisberger has thrown a touchdown pass during his NFL career.
Let me know if you find any errors in this research.
First Career NFL Touchdowns Courtesy Of Ben Roethlisberger
| Player | Year | Date | Opp | Result | Quarter | Dist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verron Haynes | 2004 | 10/3/2004 | CIN | W 28-17 | 2 | 11 |
| Heath Miller | 2005 | 9/11/2005 | TEN | W 34-7 | 1 | 3 |
| Santonio Holmes | 2006 | 11/19/2006 | @CLE | W 24-20 | 4 | 20 |
| Matt Spaeth | 2007 | 9/9/2007 | @CLE | W 34-7 | 3 | 5 |
| Mike Wallace | 2009 | 10/11/2009 | @DET | W 28-20 | 3 | 47 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 2010 | 11/14/2010 | NWE | L 26-39 | 4 | 6 |
| Issac Redman | 2010 | 11/21/2010 | OAK | W 35-3 | 4 | 16 |
| David Johnson | 2011 | 10/9/2011 | TEN | W 38-17 | 2 | 1 |
| Weslye Saunders | 2011 | 11/27/2011 | @KAN | W 13-9 | 2 | 2 |
| Will Johnson | 2012 | 10/28/2012 | WAS | W 27-12 | 3 | 1 |
| Derek Moye | 2013 | 9/16/2013 | @CIN | L 10-20 | 2 | 1 |
| Martavis Bryant | 2014 | 10/20/2014 | HOU | W 30-23 | 2 | 35 |
| Markus Wheaton | 2014 | 10/26/2014 | IND | W 51-34 | 1 | 18 |
| Jesse James | 2015 | 11/8/2015 | OAK | W 38-35 | 4 | 4 |
| Eli Rogers | 2016 | 9/12/2016 | @WAS | W 38-16 | 2 | 3 |
| Xavier Grimble | 2016 | 9/18/2016 | CIN | W 24-16 | 1 | 20 |
| Sammie Coates | 2016 | 10/9/2016 | NYJ | W 31-13 | 1 | 72 |
| Cobi Hamilton | 2016 | 10/16/2016 | @MIA | L 15-30 | 4 | 23 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 2017 | 9/17/2017 | MIN | W 26-9 | 2 | 4 |
