Pittsburgh Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward does not at all agree with recent comments about players today made by his former teammate and Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger called it a career following the 2021 season and is in the early days of retirement at 40 years old. However, with Steelers training camp open and the start of the 2022 season a little over a month away, the future Hall-of-Famer has made headlines in a couple of interviews recently.
Last week, he first suggested that former Pittsburgh general manager Kevin Colbert and head coach Mike Tomlin were ready to begin the next era of Steelers football without him before last season. A few days later, he eclipsed that with the various opinions he gave in a new interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Related: Pittsburgh Steelers training camp 2022: Everything you need to know
In the chat from July 22, Roethlisberger questioned the attitude of current NFL players. Claiming they have more of a me-first outlook than team-first. As well as claiming current athletes are “coddled” from an early age. “They’re treated so special. They’re coddled at a young age because college coaches need them to win, too. I know [Miami University coach Terry Hoeppner] never coddled me. Neither did [Bill] Cowher.”
Pittsburgh Steelers captain responds to Ben Roethlisberger’s comment on current players
Well, it looks like one of the team’s current stars could’nt disagree more with the opinion of his long-time teammate. In a new episode of his “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward” podcast, years-long Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward revealed he was upset by the views of the man he played ten seasons with. Admitting he took offense to the comments on current Pittsburgh players.
“It looks as though we are looked at as selfish players, and I don’t think that’s the point. We have a lot of young players that come from different backgrounds, have experienced different things from what others or I may have experienced. That doesn’t make them selfish or more of a me-type attitude. … There are a lot more team-first guys than me-type attitude. I took offense to that.”
During the podcast, Heyward said it is on team leaders and veterans to help younger players mature and learn what is required to win a Super Bowl. However, he believes it is still more important to “protect” teammates instead of bashing them for lacking the professionalism of tenured players.
“Maybe Ben didn’t see it that way, but man, I’m going to protect my guys. You just can’t say it’s a ‘me-type of attitude’ now,” Heyward said [h/t ESPN]. Everyone’s out to be a Super Bowl winner, make money, and one day be an MVP. But when it all comes together, we care about one thing, this logo right here. … I’ve always tried to extend that to my younger teammates. I think Ben was a little out on that one.”