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Pittsburgh’s most recent franchise quarterback is willing to assist the guy who ideally will become the team’s next franchise quarterback.
Speaking to reporters at the Steelers’ rookie minicamp, first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett said that Ben Roethlisberger called to say that Roethlisberger would welcome Pickett’s call, if he needs anything or wants to bounce anything off Big Ben, via Mark Kaboly of TheAthletic.com.
Making the gesture more interesting is that, in five years of sharing a facility, the starting quarterback of the Steelers never spoke to the kid who would become the starting quarterback at Pitt.
“He never got the chance to talk ball with Ben Roethlisberger — which seems odd to me, to never chat with Roethlisberger in five years — but he did watch Steelers practice a lot,” Peter King wrote on the Monday after the draft.
Read into it what you will, or won’t. Regardless of why Roethlisberger didn’t interact with Pickett before, they’re interacting now. Whether it was a hollow gesture or the start of a true mentoring relationship remains to be seen.
