Ben Roethlisberger openly admitted he initially did not want Kenny Pickett succeed as his replacement as Pittsburgh Steelers franchise quarterback. But that was before Roethlisberger earned respect for Pickett’s abilities and before the two began to forge a friendship.

Speaking to media for the first time since Roethlisberger’s comments on his podcast came out Monday, Pickett said he was OK with the man who held his job as Steelers quarterback from 2004-2021.

“Yeah, I mean he’s honest, he’s upfront about it,” Pickett said after the first day of OTAs from UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “He’s a fan (of the Steelers) now, and he’s pulling for us, and it was really cool to hear him say that and to get a chance to be at his house and meet his wife and get to know him a little bit better.

“So I think we’re just going to continue to build on that relationship, and I’ll reach out if I have any questions. He said he’ll be texting me, so I’m excited to go into Year 2 with another guy in my corner pulling for me.”

Before saying Pickett was “the future” of the Steelers and that the team’s fans were “lucky to have him,” Roethlisberger addressed to co-host Spencer T’eo and Pickett while each was in his basement recording his weekly “Footbahlin” show:

“Early on, I didn’t want him to succeed because he was following me up. I didn’t want it to happen. That’s probably the selfishness of me, and I feel bad for it, but as the season went on and it got to his third game playing, I was rooting for him. I was excited for you, and I wanted you to succeed. I wanted you to win games. I wanted you to get to the playoffs. I feel bad that I felt that early on, but I’m glad that I transitioned to the love of rooting for you.”

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