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Brooke Pryor
Multiple Authors
Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker and assistant coach Joey Porter Sr. expressed on a podcast during Super Bowl week that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was neither a good teammate nor a good person.
He claimed that Roethlisberger and linebacker James Harrison “broke the brotherhood” by discussing team matters and criticizing former head coach Mike Tomlin on their own podcasts.
“[Harrison] broke the brotherhood,” Porter stated. “Then 7 [Roethlisberger] definitely broke the brotherhood. Out of anyone who should speak, he should never take the microphone to discuss Steeler business. Because if we talk Steelers business, his a– is foul of all foul. The things he did are foul of all foul. He’s not a good teammate.
“I won a Super Bowl with him, but as a person, he’s just not a good teammate. He knows that. Anyone in the Steelers facility knows that, but we shielded him because I’ve only won one Super Bowl and that was my quarterback. So do I love my quarterback? Absolutely, but is he a good person? No.”
During his appearance on Cameron Heyward’s podcast, “Not Just Football,” Porter didn’t hold back regarding Harrison or Roethlisberger. The two played together for three seasons and secured Super Bowl XL together. During that time, Porter served as a team captain and expressed his frustration with some of Roethlisberger’s rookie behavior.
Porter mentioned that Roethlisberger once declined to sign memorabilia for teammates’ families, a customary gesture in the locker room.
“He was saying, ‘No, I’m not going to sign that,'” Porter recalled. “So once he did that, who do they tell? The captain. When he first did it to Chris Hoke, I thought, ‘Damn, that’s messed up.’ I took it from Hoke, brought it over, and told him to sign it. But then when he did it to Aaron Smith, I had to have a meeting [with Roethlisberger]. Like, you’re a rookie, you’re a young guy.
“You can’t tell my veterans you’re too cool to sign for my veterans. Who’s too cool to sign for a teammate? I’m not a fan.”
Porter also noted that Roethlisberger was made captain rather than being voted in by the locker room.
“We voted to choose captains,” Porter explained. “You had to be elected. He came in an era where they just gave you the ‘C’ — because if he wasn’t a captain, he’d probably throw a fit. But nobody would vote for him as captain because he lacks captain qualities.”
Roethlisberger’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Before Tomlin’s resignation in January, Roethlisberger criticized his former head coach on his podcast, “Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger,” suggesting it might be time to “clean house” following the team’s Week 13 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
yet, speaking to reporters ahead of his induction into the team’s hall of honor, Roethlisberger revised some of his previous statements.
“Just because I said there’s a time for new things, I meant that I believe Coach Tomlin, if he wants to move on, has every right to do so — it’s not that they should,” he said.
Porter also criticized Harrison, a teammate for four seasons who later became a coach, for making disparaging remarks about Tomlin and revealing personal conversations with the former head coach on his podcast, “Deebo & Joe.”
“Do you think the head coach didn’t play a role in making that player? So when you claim he did nothing for you, that’s absurd,” Porter stated. “Then it’s like, why would you take a shot at the guy who changed your life? Because [Bill] Cowher didn’t change your life. Cowher cut you three times.”
