Pittsburgh Steelers legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger revealed he could have left the team for another team during his final season, but chose to stay in the Black and Gold.
“At the end of my career, I had the opportunity to go play somewhere else, I chose not to,” Roethlishierger said on the Sports Spectrum podcast. “I chose to go back to Pittsburgh, one last year, because I couldn’t see myself anywhere else. Eighteen years with one team, it felt too special. It killed me. I was a Joe Montana guy, to think of him with the Chiefs.”
Roethlisberger is not referring to returning to the NFL after his retirement. He received a call from the New York Jets after Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles during the 2023 season, potentially paving the way for his return.
“When Aaron went down in New York, my agent would say, ‘hey. any interest’? I would usually respond with ‘zero, ’” Roethlisberger said in March.
Roethlisberger retired after the Steelers lost their Wild Card playoff game to the Kansas City Chiefs, finishing his 18-year career with the team. The Steelers changed Roethlisberger’s contract after the 2020 season and stay with the team, but it could have been possible the sides would have split if it had not happened.
Either way, Roethlisberger was a ‘one-helmet guy’ and played all of his seasons with the Steelers. He will almost certainly be a Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible in 2027.
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