Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker and assistant coach Joey Porter Sr. said on a podcast recorded during Super Bowl week that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t a good teammate or person.
He also said Roethlisberger and linebacker James Harrison “broke the brotherhood” by discussing team business and criticizing former coach Mike Tomlin on their own podcasts.
“[Harrison] broke the brotherhood,” Porter said. “Then 7 [Roethlisberger] definitely broke the brotherhood. Out of anybody that should talk, he should never grab a microphone and really talk Steeler business. Because if we talk Steelers business, his ass is foul of all foul. The s— that he did is foul of all foul. He’s not a good teammate.
“Won the Super Bowl with him, but the person, he’s just not a good teammate. He knows that. Anybody in the Steelers 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.”
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Appearing on Cameron Heyward’s podcast, “Not Just Football,” from radio row, Porter didn’t mince words about Harrison or Roethlisberger. Porter and Roethlisberger were teammates for three seasons, and the pair won Super Bowl XL together. During that stretch, Porter was a team captain, and he told Heyward that he was particularly frustrated by some of Roethlisberger’s actions as a rookie.
In one instance, Roethlisberger refused to sign memorabilia for teammates’ families, something that was common practice in the locker room, Porter said.
“He was telling people, ‘No, I’m not going to sign that,'” Porter said. “So once he did that, who they come and tell? The captain. 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. But then when he did that to Aaron Smith, now I got to have a meeting [with Roethlisberger]. Like, 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? I’m not a fan.”
Porter also said Roethlisberger was appointed captain rather than earning it through a locker room vote.
“We voted to be captains,” Porter said. “You had to be voted in. He came in the era where they just gave you the ‘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 quality.”
Roethlisberger’s representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Before Tomlin’s resignation in January, Roethlisberger was critical of his former coach on his podcast, “Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger,” saying it might be time to “clean house” after the team’s Week 13 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
But speaking to reporters ahead of his induction into the team’s hall of honor, Roethlisberger walked back some of his previous comments.
“Just because I said there’s a time for some new things, that’s just saying that I think Coach Tomlin, if he wants to move on, he has every right to move on — it’s not they should,” he said.
Porter also criticized Harrison, a teammate of his for four seasons who later returned to coach, for taking shots at Tomlin and revealing personal conversations with the former coach on Harrison’s podcast, “Deebo & Joe.”
“You think the head coach didn’t have his hand in making that player? So when you say he did nothing for you, that’s crazy,” Porter said. “Then it’s like, damn, 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.”
