Ben Roethlisberger knows he will not be the Steelers quarterback in 2022, but he doesn’t know who will be taking the snaps.
Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season and confirmed that he won’t be reversing course during an appearance on WDVE on Thursday. He said he hears from teammates wondering if he’ll take a page from Tom Brady’s book, but that he’s “pretty content” with post-football life.
With Roethlisberger out of the picture, plenty of people have speculated about the Steelers using the 20th overall pick on a quarterback to replace him. Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis are high on the list of candidates, but Roethlisberger didn’t offer any inside information about what the team might be thinking.
“Are either one of them going to be there?” Roethlisberger said, via Adam Bittner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I just don’t know. If they are, I think that they would [pick them]. I don’t know. I don’t know. I know they got some linemen in free agency. Do they feel confident that those are the guys? There’s, I think, a chance that if you could get a really good center out there, you could go get him and move Kendrick [Green] to guard and sure up that line with Dan [Moore Jr.] and Kendrick and a rookie, another guy. You could have a good line for a long time and then find whatever quarterback you really want, whether it’s this year, later, or next year. I don’t know. I think you’ve just got to shore up certain spots first. But if that guy’s there and they love him, I’m sure they’ll take him.”
Roethlisberger and everybody else will find out the Steelers’ plans later on Thursday.