Ben Roethlisberger calls out Steelers over Aaron Rodgers treatment: 'I got a center that never played center before'

Ben Roethlisberger sounded a little salty about the end of his Pittsburgh Steelers’ tenure when he discussed the team’s latest win over the Indianapolis Colts. In an episode of his podcast, he discussed the Super Bowl XL winning team’s 20th anniversary and broke down the latest game.

But, he took note of how the Steelers, who brought in Aaron Rodgers this season, surrounded the most important position with top tier talent. The Steelers traded for DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks to give Rodfgers a bonafide superstar at WR, despite trading fellow top pass catcher George Pickens to the Cowboys.

Roethlisberger brought up that point but noted the lack of support he was given in 2021, his final season in Pittsburgh. He took a bit of a shot, even if it was breif.

“Obviously receiver is, if there’s a receiver available and they like it, then sure. Why not,” Roethlisberger said on Footbhalin. “It’s not gonna hurt. And if there’s a couple good ones out there that you can sign for long term and have DK and him together … I still think it’s funny because like, they’ve given Aaron DK and all these things and I got a center that never played center before in my last year.”

The Steelers made one in-season trade this year, but it was a week before Tuesday’s deadline. They landed safety Kyle Dugger from the Patriots in exchange for draft compensation.

Roethlisberger’s WR corps in 2021 consisted of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson. They also had tight end Eric Ebron.

The center he referred to was rookie Kendrick Green. Green was a third round draft pick out of Illinois that year and split his time between center and guard in college, while being named First-Team All-Big Ten in 2020. The other center that season was JC Hassenauer, an undrafted player out of Alabama back in 2018.

The 2021 Steelers ended up going 9-7, finishing second in the AFC North. They had to hit the road to play the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Wild Card Round, losing 42-21, the final game of Roethlisberger’s career.

Is it him being salty? Maybe so, considering Roethlisberger played his final season and Rodgers could be doing the same this year. As it stands, the Steelers are 5-3 atop the AFC North, two games ahead of the Baltimore Ravens.

Rodgers has 1,692 yards, 17 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 68.7% completion percentage at the halfway point. Metcalf is the leading receiver with 47 catches, 467 yards, five touchdowns and 16.1 yards per catch. 

For comparison, Roethlisberger had 3,740 yards, 22 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 64.5% completion percentage in 16 games. His leading receiver was Johnson, who had 107 catches for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns.