It’s not unusual for athletes to create a strong bond with their teammates.
There’s just something about sharing a locker room that brings people closer.
However, sometimes it can go a little too far, and that seems to be the case for this veteran NFL quarterback who has apparently fallen head over heels in love with his backup.
Oftentimes when a team brings in a young quarterback to serve as the understudy for a veteran, things can go south fast.
Either the veteran feels like the team is focusing more on life without him than life with him, or the younger quarterback feels like he’s not getting enough attention to aid his development.
But it seems like one NFL team that isn’t going to have to worry about those issues this season is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Despite the fact that there have been rumors for a couple of off-seasons now that the Steelers were trying to push Big Ben into retirement, he seems to be totally content with former Washington castaway Dwayne Haskins coming in as a project for the team.
In fact, Roethlisberger seems to be absolutely head over heels in love with Haskins.
Whether or not it is a totally platonic love is a determination you’ll have to make for yourself based on Roethlisberger’s own words.
“I was just telling Coach [Mike Sullivan] the other day that his release and throwing motion mechanics are some of the prettiest I’ve ever seen,” Roethlisberger said. “I told him, I wish I had that. Just everything he does. And he throws the ball, I joked he could throw it through a car wash and it wouldn’t get wet.”
Now, while it’s hilarious to see Roethlisberger rave about “everything he does,” what makes his comments even more hilarious is the comment about Haskins being able to throw the ball through a car wash and it not getting wet.
If you’ve paid attention at all to the NFL over the past couple of years, you know that Haskins’ failure in Washington was largely due to the fact that his accuracy was so bad he couldn’t throw the ball into the ocean if he was standing on the beach.
Haskins throwing the ball through a car wash and not being able to get it wet has nothing to do with how well he throws the football, and everything to do with the fact that it wouldn’t get wet because there’s no chance he could throw the ball accurately enough for it to even get close to the water.
But Roethlisberger wasn’t done there, and continued to praise a guy who was released by Washington — of all franchises — because he couldn’t arrive to meetings on time, went to strip clubs in violation of the league’s COVID protocols on game weeks multiple times, had to be substituted for late in games because he was too busy taking selfies with fans, and simply refused to learn the playbook or prepare for games half as well as even the most mediocre NFL quarterbacks.
“He’s young in the league, but it’s fun to have the young energy around,” Roethlisberger said of Haskins. “And like I said, when he throws the ball, it’s pretty.”
Hearing Ben Roethlisberger talk about “young energy” certainly feels a little weird, you know, considering his past.
But clearly, Ben Roethlisberger cannot get enough of Dwayne Haskins.
He loves the guy in every possible way a man can love another man – and then some.
Truthfully, though, while Roethlisberger’s over-the-top love affair with a much younger teammate may seem a little odd on the surface, it may actually make perfect sense.
Roethlisberger has fought hard to not have to retire over the past few years, even if it’s what his team was quietly pushing for and hoping would happen.
So if Roethlisberger can convince enough people in the front office that Haskins has the potential to one day be a solid quarterback, maybe Big Ben can buy himself a few more years.
He can sit back, not have to worry about the threat that this backup is going to take his job – because that’s just not happening in a million years, no matter how good Ben thinks Haskins is – make about $15 million per year, and go off into the sunset whenever he pleases.
Of course, that would require Ben Roethlisberger to be smart enough to realize that.
But as he’s proven on multiple occasions, he’s just not.
Sports with Balls will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
