Ben Roethlisberger is lobbying hard to keep all of his offensive linemen – and the unit’s coach, too.
Speaking on his weekly KDKA-FM radio segment Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback said he told pending free-agent left guard Ramon Foster that he was “going to go talk to Coach and see if we can get (Foster) back.”
Roethlisberger even went so far as to encourage fans to get involved going to the very top in lobbying to retain Foster and respected offensive line coach Mike Munchak, who is a candidate for head coach openings of at least four teams.
“That whole o-line is special. I pray that we can keep them all together,” Roethlisberger said. “I hope fans and everyone writes letters in to Mr. Rooney to jeep them, and keep Coach Munchak around as well.”
A 10-year veteran, Foster is the second-longest tenured Steelers player, and the soon-to-be 33-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent in March.
Outside of injury – and right tackle Marcus Gilbert played just five games this season – the starting five of Alejandro Villanueva, Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Gilbert completed its fourth season together as starters. The four aside from Villanueva were starting together the two prior seasons, too.
All of them speak highly of Munchak, one of the more respected offensive coaches in the game and a Hall of Fame inductee as a player. Munchak was a finalist for the Arizona Cardinals head coach position before withdrawing his name last year, and this year the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers are among the franchises interested in him to lead their teams.
Roethlisberger the Broncos job, in particular, is appealing to Munchak because Munchak has family in the Denver area. Roethlisberger said he texted and personally visited Munchak’s office Monday to lobby for him to stay.
“That’s the one that makes me nervous, the Denver job,” Roethlisberger said. “So I think… we’ve got to find a way to get his family back in Pittsburgh so he doesn’t move.”
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
