Ben Roethlisberger and Steelers skill players spend time bonding

You have probably seen or heard by now that Ben Roethlisberger is spending time with his teammates at his lake house in Georgia – more specifically, the Steelers’ skill position players.

From what we can tell, it appears to be a large group of players hanging out at the Roethlisberger estate. Though not all of their skills players take to social media as often as JuJu, it appears from the pictures and videos that most of the Steelers skill players made the offseason trip to Georgia.

Among the players at Ben’s lake house are JuJu-Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Vance McDonald, Donte Moncrief, Ryan Switzer, James Washington, Jaylen Samuels, Tevin Jones, and a few others. It’s probably safe to assume that any skill position on the team to start this years’ roster may have been there.

This isn’t the first time Ben Roethlisberger has done a bonding trip like this with his teammates. In 2015,  Ben took his skill players on the same trip:

Seen alongside Roethlisberger in the video from 2015 are Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, and Martavis Bryant.

Ironically enough, each of the three players didn’t leave Pittsburgh on good terms. Martavis had gotten into arguments with teammates and was suspended multiple times for drug use. The Steelers shipped him to the Raiders for a 3rd round draft choice. Le’Veon Bell sat out the entire season last year, and turned down a lucrative deal the Steelers offered him. Of course, we all know how it ended with Brown.

Ben Roethlisberger has made efforts to bond with his teammates before. Though there is a generational age gap between Ben and some of his teammates (ages 21 to 37, if we are starting with Benny Snell), Roethlisberger didn’t let that stop him from getting to know the guys he is going to be playing with every Sunday.

Football is a team sport. There is always going to be that give-and-take relationship between a quarterback and his weapons. Let’s hope this lake-side bonding experience is has more baring on the future than it did in 2015.

The Steelers have drafted and brought in a number of ‘high character’ guys since the drama begin a few years back. They may not be as talented as the Brown, Bryant, and Bell trio, but if they can find a way to work as a team and stay away from the drama, perhaps that will be enough.