Ben Roethlisberger was not a good teammate or a good person, said former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, who criticized the quarterback during a podcast appearance published Wednesday.
Porter, appearing on “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward,” called out Roethlisberger and former teammate James Harrison for speaking negatively about “Steeler business.” Porter accused the two of sharing stories “predicated on making them look good” but had his harshest words for Roethlisberger.
“The (stuff) that seven did that we don’t talk about is crazy,” said Porter, referring to Roethlisberger by his jersey number. “Out of anybody who talks, he should never grab a microphone and really talk Steeler business. Because if we’re talking Steeler business, his (butt) is foul of all foul. Like the (stuff) that he did is foul of all foul. He’s not a good teammate.
“Won a Super Bowl with him,” Porter added. “But the person, he’s just not a good teammate. He knows that. Anybody in the Steeler building knows that, but we protected him. Because I’ve only won one Super Bowl and that was my quarterback. So do I love my quarterback, yeah. But is he a good person? No.”
Roethlisberger was teammates with Porter for his first three seasons (2004-06). Porter returned as a Steelers defensive coach for five seasons later in Roethlisberger’s career.
Porter’s comments followed Heyward taking umbrage with former Steelers who have an “axe to grind” with Mike Tomlin after the coach resigned. Harrison co-hosts the “Deebo & Joe” podcast along with former player Joe Haden. Roethlisberger headlines the weekly “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.”
“They tell the version of the story in Pittsburgh that they want to tell,” said Porter, noting that he doesn’t watch Roethlisberger’s podcast. “Their version is predicated on making them look good.”
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Porter, Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey were inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honor in December.
Among Porter’s criticisms of Roethlisberger was that the quarterback separated himself from the team and was “too cool” to autograph items for teammates’ families.
“If any family member says, ‘Hey, man, Joey, can you get so-and-so to sign this?’ It’s easy,” Porter said. “I get it (and say): ‘Sign this for my family. His name is so-and-so.’ You sign it. He was telling people no, I’m not going to sign that.
“Once he did that, who do they come and tell? The captain,” said Porter of himself. “When he first did it to Chris Hoke, I was like, damn, that’s messed up, man. I grabbed it from Hoke, took it over there and told him to sign it. Then when he did it to Aaron Smith, now I’ve got to have a meeting. You’re a rookie. You’re a young guy. You can’t tell my vets you’re too cool to sign for my vets. Who the hell is too cool to sign for your teammate?”
A two-time Super Bowl champion, Roethlisberger ranks among the top passers in NFL history, but Porter said he lacked captain qualities. The 2004 first-round draft pick had to wait until his fifth season to be voted a team captain, after Porter was already gone.
Roethlisberger later lost his captaincy for a year in 2010 when the NFL suspended him four games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
“(What) do you think that monster turned into when all the vets are gone?” Porter said. “So, when all the vets are gone, now he has some say so. … Look at the team when Joey was a captain. When Jerome (Bettis) was a captain. When Hines Ward was a captain. You heard nothing in the locker room. Captains have to do captain (stuff). We voted to be captains. You had to be voted in.
“He came in the era where they just give you a C. Because if he wasn’t a captain, he’d probably have a hissy fit. But nobody’s going to vote for him as captain because he don’t have no captain qualities.”
