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It was a shock to many when the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Jalen Ramsey in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick as one of the pieces, as it also garnered an interesting reaction from former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. While fans predict how Ramsey will play with the Steelers, Roethlisberger looks more inward, looking at the culture of the team.
Roethlisberger was on his podcast titled “Footbahlin,” where he would say that this will be Ramsey’s fifth team in the NFL and how “there’s a reason that that happens.” Plus, with the trade of Fitzpatrick, who had immense respect within the locker room, he wonders if the locker room has “culturally changed.”
“This is his fifth team. There’s a reason that that happens,” Roethlisberger said. “I don’t know what that is. I haven’t been in the locker room for a few years now. So I don’t know how things have culturally changed in that locker room in terms of what’s the locker room thinking right now. When you’re losing a leader like Minkah. A guy that is just a worker, doesn’t talk a lot but works. When I was there, if this would’ve happened, like a couple of years ago, there would be some upset dudes in that locker room.”
“It feels like you’re losing a lot of the Steeler cultural guys that are in there,” Roethlisberger continued. “That know what it is. And you’re bringing guys in that are one-year guys in here, maybe two-year guys that they know about the Steelers, the logo, but they don’t really know it. It’s not branded in their chests. It’s not Yellowstoneed on their chest.”
The Steelers would also get tight end Jonnu Smith in the blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins, besides Ramsey, signaling a huge retooling offseason for the team. Arguably, the highlight has been Pittsburgh signing Aaron Rodgers, but there’s no denying the impact that Ramsey and Smith could bring.
Roethlisberger was shocked by the move and spoke of certain rumblings, mostly surrounding the All-Pro safety Fitzpatrick, according to Steelers Nation.
“The jaws dropped and I couldn’t believe it,” Roethlisberger said. “I would say I was caught off guard with it…I know there have been some talks in the last few years about maybe a lack of production or splash plays. I don’t have the analytics, and I don’t have the stats in front of me. This is all eye test and what I see and what I hear and stuff like that… They weren’t happy with it, but I didn’t think that it would get to this point.”
The Steelers are looking to improve after finishing 10-7 last year, second in the AFC North, as they open the upcoming season on Sunday, Sept. 7, against the New York Jets.
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