When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward was already entrenched as a starting wide receiver. We had an opportunity to sit down and talk to Ward about Roethlisberger and how he compared to what he saw in Kenny Pickett as a rookie replacing Roethlisberger.
“Ben just came in, did a phenomenal job, had a phenomenal rookie year, you know, so to compare, Kenny’s season, rookie season to Ben that’s kind of unfair to Kenney because there’s such a young team, you look at from the running back spot to the wide receiver spots.”
Ward emphasized that Roethlisberger came to a veteran team loaded with talent and just had to do his part and not make mistakes.
“I think overall and in the big picture, I mean, I think he did a phenomenal job considering the circumstances, you know, I can’t really compare it to because you know, when Ben was a rookie, he came into a veteran squad.”
By comparison, Pickett is a young quarterback on a very young team. One of the youngest in the NFL last season. There was much more put on Pickett’s shoulders and late in the season he really started to show signs that he could be the man.
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