Plenty of Pittsburgh Steelers fans have lost respect for Ben Roethlisberger in recent weeks. But one player in the Steelers’ locker room, Pro Bowl linebacker LaMarr Woodley, is coming forward to say that Roethlisberger hasn’t lost his respect.
“He hasn’t lost any respect from me at all,” Woodley said on Fox Sports Radio, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “Ben’s a great guy, he’s a great football player, and you know, sometimes things happen off the field. Things happen, guys into this, get into that, and that doesn’t change how I think about a person at all.”
It’s true that “things happen” to everyone, but when the “things” are allegations of sexual assault, they’ve now happened to Roethlisberger multiple times, making it reasonable to wonder whether some players on the Steelers think less of him as a person. Woodley wouldn’t speculate on that.
“I really can’t say,” Woodley said. “I can’t speak for everybody. I can’t say Ben’s lost the locker room.”
Woodley did say, however, that he’d understand if Roethlisberger has lost the support of the Rooney family.
“The Rooney’s don’t tolerate a lot of things just because of the respect that they have,” Woodley said. “That’s just the way it is.”
