Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and future Hall of Famer, Ben Roethlisberger released the latest episode of his podcast Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger on Tuesday after recording over two hours worth of content during the team’s game against the Indianapolis Colts on Monday evening. He had one of his best friends and former center, Maurkice Pouncey join in what was a laid back, fun way to see the two together post-retirement.
Out of the numerous topics and former teammates they discussed, the two decided to toe the line a little bit when talking about how former cornerback and now retiree, Joe Haden ended up in Pittsburgh:
“We had to get Joe in on our team, whenever he was a free agent or whatever was going on,” Roethlisberger said while looking at Pouncey in a suspicious way.
Pouncey interrupted joking about the NFL rules involving free agent players:
“Can we say that? Is that like tampering?”
Roethlisberger responded by basically saying it doesn’t matter because the two are no longer part of the organization:
“We’re gone now, who cares,” Roethlisberger said definitely.
Following that, Pouncey said that they’d just let Mr. [Art] Rooney II pay the fine for it. The former center even opened up as to how himself and others were reaching out to the three-time Pro Bowl defender back in 2017 before he signed with the organization:
“We was all DM’ing him and texting him like, ‘Joe, listen, we need you.'”
It’s hard to believe tampering was actually in play because of how the Steelers organization is run and more likely that the two were just joking around, but it can’t be ruled out due to the way social media affects our society today. Just prior to talking about the recruitment of Haden, Roethlisberger got extremely candid and almost emotional talking about is relationship with Haden both before and after he came to Pittsburgh.
“I love you Joe, I miss you. I hated Joe forever when he was in Cleveland. Always respected [him]. Hated Joe because he was really stinkin good.”
The compliments from the retired quarterback continued to pour in as he seems to genuinely appreciate the relationship he developed with Haden while the two spent five years together on the field and in the locker room:
“Then he came to Pittsburgh and I think we’re friends and will be friends forever. Joe is just one of the, and I mean this in the most serious way, he is one of the sweetest people. Super kind, always happy, always smiling. I really respect [him] for the football player he is, but I respect Joe more for the person he is.”
Roethlisberger and Pouncey also agreed that he was such an important personality for their defense. Pouncey knew that for a while because the two were teammates at the University of Florida. It turns out that Haden may have ended up playing for the Steelers due to heavy recruiting efforts which may or may not have been illegal.
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