Kordell Stewart still relishes 'Slash' role

When former Pittsburgh Steeler Kordell Stewart thinks back to training camp at Saint Vincent, one word comes to mind.

“Hot,” Stewart exclaimed during a phone call Wednesday.

“Slash” joined me for Thursday’s Bella Construction “Letters from Camp” podcast to discuss a broadcast venture of his own. Stewart is launching a new show on the BLEAV platform. It is called “On the Edge with Slash” and will focus on the NFL, college football and golf (which has become Stewart’s post-NFL retirement endeavor). It’s distributed on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher and Apple podcasts.

One training camp Stewart discussed in our conversation was the one in 1996. That was a year — like this one — when the Steelers had a three-person battle for the starting quarterback role. It was between Stewart, Mike Tomczak and Jim Miller. In June, Miller joined us on “Breakfast With Benz.” Fairly early in the competition, Miller recalled head coach Bill Cowher making the decision to keep Stewart in his multi-position “Slash” role as QB/receiver/running back so he and Tomczak could get more reps in practice and the preseason to determine who the starter would be.

Miller won the job out of the preseason but was benched in the first game in favor of Tomczak. The Steelers went on to win the division at 10-6 and won a home playoff game over the Indianapolis Colts before falling to the New England Patriots in the second round.

Stewart said he wasn’t bent out of shape over Cowher’s decision because staying with the Slash role that year kept him involved and laid the foundation for him to become the starter in 1997.

“I did not mind playing the role of Slash because it gave me an opportunity,” Stewart said. “Instead of sitting on the bench doing nothing but writing and talking — my body getting out of shape — it gave me the opportunity to hear the play come from Ron Erhardt and Chan Gailey to get those reps to where, in ’97, I played full time (at quarterback). Even though there were a lot of turnovers in the first half of a lot of those games, there was enough confidence in what I was doing.”

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In ’97, the Steelers ended up 11-5 and reached the AFC Championship game before getting knocked out by the Denver Broncos.

Stewart said he’s proud of how his Slash role blossomed with the Steelers and how he eventually evolved into a Pro Bowl quarterback in Pittsburgh, even if, at times, the road took some difficult turns.

“People wanting to see you play wide receiver. People wanting to see you play quarterback. Not knowing how to justify it, how to talk about it. It became, in some cases, controversial. But, for me, it was fun,” Stewart said.

Looking back on his career, Stewart insisted he doesn’t harbor any resentment over playing the multidimensional role instead of strictly incubating as a backup quarterback before being installed as the full-time starter in 1997.

“I never had any feeling of, ‘I wish, I coulda, woulda, shoulda.’ Being there in Pittsburgh, it wasn’t me that had to accept. It was the media, and the fan base and the analysts covering it,” Stewart said.

Now, at 49, in a way, Stewart looks back on the debate over what position he should have played in his early years as a point of pride.

“This was done in Pittsburgh way before today. The question was the timing. The acceptance of it,” Stewart said. “It was in Pittsburgh, a traditional city where a quarterback was just a quarterback. The receiver was just a receiver. To be able to do all that at one time, it wasn’t the most favorable thing unless we were winning.

“But I don’t look back on it at all, honestly, to second guess one single thing that I did. If I had to do it again today — well, I’d probably be making a lot more money — I would do it again.”

In the years since he retired, Stewart said, he can tell the evaluation of multidimensional quarterbacks coming out of college has evolved.

“In fairness to the draft, (all the teams) are not looking for that style of QB. The thing is for me — and for many going back to the time in which I played — people are more open to evaluate those kinds of players in a more open fashion as opposed to, ‘Would you do something else if we brought you in?’ It’s not that anymore. It is, if you fit the bill and you have the ability, you’ll be able to come in,” Stewart said.

As for this year’s Steelers team, Stewart said, the Steelers are in a “transition state” in the first season after Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement.

“I know the word rebuild is not one that’s used often in Pittsburgh,” Stewart said. “But, when you make a change like this one, and you know your future is a young quarterback — and the QB who is a veteran (Mitch Trubisky) has not been consistent with his play in Chicago or Buffalo — this is kind of, I think, a word that probably people don’t want to hear, which is ‘rebuilding.’ ”

Listen: Tim Benz speaks with Kordell Stewart about his Steeler days