With the NFL Draft just two days away, former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger dedicated a large portion of his latest episode of his Footbahlin podcast to talking about the draft. Roethlisberger harped on the intangible aspect of evaluating a player, particularly at quarterback, and he said that scouting players is something he would love to do if the Steelers asked him to help.
“Like if the Steelers were to ask me, ‘hey, would you look at this, would you evaluate this? Walk me through what you see here.’ I would love to do that. I would love to be a part of that kind of stuff, because I feel like I have a different view than a lot of people who just watch film would see. And I may miss things, too, that there are professionals at watching film, in terms of watching a player do things, but in terms of being out there and doing certain things.”
Roethlisberger said it would be important to get a feel for how a player acts both on the sidelines and on the field.
“I would love to go to a game and watch it, like a live game. Like, I would just watch that player. Look at him when he comes off the field. Does he sit on the bench and pout? Does he go sit down, is he throwing his hands up and blaming other people, or is he like, my bad?”
Many former players become scouts and work in the front office, and they offer a different perspective as someone who has been in the locker room and played the game. Scouting and evaluating players isn’t an exact science, though, and as Roethlisberger said, there may be things he would miss that other people can see. Scouts also look at a player’s body language and how they’re acting off the field. Still, Roethlisberger is right that his perspective could be different when looking at certain intangibles, especially at the quarterback position.
The Steelers have a mix of former players like Zack Crockett, Chidi Iwuoma, and Mark Bruener on their scouting staff, but they also have a lot of scouts who never played in the NFL. While it doesn’t necessarily sound like Roethlisberger would be interested in a full-time scouting role, he does seem interested in helping the team ahead of the draft and doing some scouting work as needed, especially when it comes to looking at quarterbacks and seeing if a player can be a leader of men. If the call ever comes from the team is a different question, but it’s interesting to hear Roethlisberger say that it’s something he would be interested in doing.
With the Steelers likely selecting a quarterback in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, Ben Roethlisberger has his eyes on Ohio State’s Will Howard and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart as he said the intangibles in those players and how they lead a team stand out. So while he didn’t assist the team in the pre-draft process this year, if he did, we know where he would lean when selecting a quarterback.
