Ben Roethlisberger started and finished his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. As it turns out, if he wanted to play for another team at the end of his career, he could have, but he simply did not feel like suiting up for another team, which will only further endear him to Steelers fans.
The No. 11 overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, Roethlisberger earned the starting job in Week 3 of the ensuing season and never looked back. “Big Ben” would win Offensive Rookie of the Year for his efforts that season, before going on to earn six Pro Bowl selections and a pair of Super Bowl championships throughout of his 18-year career.
As he got older, age began to catch up to Roethlisberger, but it didn’t stop teams from having interest in him. With the Steelers preparing to move on from Roethlisberger, he could have latched on with another team, but he ultimately chose not to, due in large part to his loyalty to the city of Pittsburgh.
“I had a couple calls, when quarterbacks go down, when Aaron [Rodgers] went down, I think they call my agent and gauge some interest,” Roethlisberger said on the “Sports Spectrum Podcast. “At the end of my career, I had a chance to go play somewhere else, and I chose not to. I chose to go back to Pittsburgh, one last year, because I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.”
“18 years with one team, it felt too special. It killed me, I was a Joe Montana guy, to think of him with the Chiefs, or those guys that went to other teams, it’s like, ‘No, don’t do that!'”
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When all was said and done, Roethlisberger finished his career with 64,088 passing yards and 418 touchdowns, making him one of the top quarterbacks of his era. It wouldn’t have felt right to see him suit up for another team before calling it a career, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him continue representing Pittsburgh by eventually finding his way into the Hall of Fame.
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