Steelers GM on Ben Roethlisberger criticizing teammates on radio: If players were smart, they’d listen

Ben Roethlisberger might lose a generational talent at receiver this offseason after the receiver, Antonio Brown, requested a trade partly because of his deteriorating relationship with Roethlisberger, but Roethlisberger still appears to be walking away from the saga as the clear winner. Look no further than the comments Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert made on Wednesday.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Colbert didn’t just talk up Big Ben’s leadership abilities. He also supported Big Ben’s habit of going on the radio and publicly criticizing his teammates, saying “Ben’s the elder statesman. If the players were smart, they’d listen to him. He’s been there.”

This past season, after the Steelers dropped a close game to the Broncos that ended with Roethlisberger throwing an interception at the goal line, Roethlisberger went on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh and said Brown should’ve flattened his route on the play and that he wished he would’ve thrown the ball to JuJu Smith-Schuster instead. At the time, Brown shrugged off Roethlisberger’s criticisms, saying “I’ve got big shoulders. I can take it.” 

But during a Twitter Q&A session on Saturday, Brown said that Roethlisberger has an “owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches.”

It’s worth noting that Roethlisberger has called out players other than Brown in a public manner. This isn’t just a one-time thing. But based on Colbert’s comments, the team is more than OK with Roethlisberger continuing to do so even though most quarterbacks — even the ones as accomplished as Roethlisberger — tend to keep their criticism of teammates inside the building.

The Steelers are now trying to trade Brown, but have made it clear they won’t give him away unless they feel like they’re getting compensated fairly. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger will turn 37 next month, is entering the final year of his contract, and has flirted with retirement in recent years, but a contract extension could be on the way, as CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has reported.

Roethlisberger might be losing his best receiver — not to mention Le’Veon Bell, who has finally secured his football freedom — but he hasn’t lost his position of power with the Steelers. 

If anything, his authority has only been reinforced.