NFL analyst says Ben Roethlisberger might be worst QB in AFC North
By Adam Patrick
Takes about the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback are get a little out of control.
While training camp has technically started for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the NFL, it still currently feels a bit more like an extended offseason.
Teams won’t even begin to have full-contact practices until August 17 and there will be no preseason games for the public to get a first look at their favorite squad before the regular season starts in September.
So with this extended offseason also comes the extension of the fiery hot takes that have become a major part of sports coverage in its current form. One of these scorching hot takes recently had to do with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and man was it a doozy.
Former NFL general manager has a terrible opinion on the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback
With there being no actual on-the-field action to discuss when it comes to the NFL right now, sports talk shows are still full of various “analysts” fighting for the title of each day’s most outrageous opinion. On Thursday, former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum was most deserving of this title.
In a discussion on ESPN’s “Get Up” about whether Roethlisberger returning to Pittsburgh makes them a playoff team, Tannenbaum wasn’t on the side that believed the black and gold will be getting back to the postseason this year. He went on to elaborate on why and it had a lot to do with Roethlisberger.
"“At best, Pittsburgh has the second-best quarterback in that division and maybe the third or fourth depending how (Joe) Burrow and Baker Mayfield play. (Roethlisberger’s) best days are behind him. The future of that division is Lamar Jackson, maybe Burrow, maybe Baker Mayfield.”"
Luckily for Tannenbaum, he happened to be having this discussion with someone who is very familiar with Roethlisberger in former Steelers safety Ryan Clark.
Clark had a wonderful reaction to his current colleague’s remarks and it wasn’t very hard for him to come up with a response to the outrageous statement that was said on national television.
"“That boy just said Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield are going to better than Ben Roethlisberger. I cannot believe him. (Roethlisberger) is motivated. He says he’s as healthy as he’s ever been. I think Ben plays great this year, he has a chance to do some wonderful things, and (the Steelers) can win it all if things fall right.”"
Now, there might be a little bias behind Clark’s reply since he used to suit up in a Pittsburgh uniform. But due to this, he’s also more informed than the others who were involved in the discussion about the current state of the Steelers and what their actual potential is for 2020.
But back to Tannenbaum. Sure, Roethlisberger can be the second-best quarterback in the AFC North this season. Not many would argue with that right now considering the MVP year Lamar Jackson just had. But to even think for a second that the Pittsburgh signal-caller might be the worst quarterback in the division this year is just asinine.
Now, we are talking about the same Tannenbaum who spent a top-five draft pick on Mark Sanchez in 2009 when he was the general manager of the New York Jets. Sanchez went on to never finish a season with a quarterback rating higher than 78.2 in his four years with the Jets.
Make sure to remember this during the next time Tannenbaum is seen on ESPN spewing garbage out of his mouth about an NFL quarterback.