Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been known for his toughness and leadership as a team player.

So, it is understandable that he had something to say about the mentalities of modern football players. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the six-time Pro Bowler laid out his opinion on NFL players nowadays.

“I feel like the game has changed,” Roethlisberger said. “I feel like the people have changed in a sense. Maybe it’s because I got spoiled when I came in. The team was so important. It was all about the team. Now, it’s about me and this, that and the other. I might be standing on a soapbox a little bit, but that’s my biggest takeaway from when I started to the end. It turned from a team-first to a me-type attitude. It was hard.”

Roethlisberger’s experience on the Steelers has given him the right to speak on this issue. The Steelers have had Super Bowl aspirations over the past decade, only to come up short because of drama and self-inflicted ineptitude. From Le’Veon Bell holding out to Antonio Brown’s constant meltdowns, the Steelers were making headlines for the wrong reasons. While Roethlisberger shouldn’t be exempt from criticism, he certainly has room to be upset at his teammates’ antics.

Roethlisberger doesn’t stand alone on this issue either. Fans and older athletes have constantly talked about the change in dynamics within the NFL. Ryan Clark, another former Steeler, spoke about this in reaction to the team’s Week 12 blowout loss vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Y’all don’t scare nobody,” Clark said on Get Up! the morning after the game. He stated that the current rendition of the Steelers failed to uphold the values of those in the past, from Joe Greene to James Harrison.

“We wanna be cute, right?,” Clark continued. “We wanna make videos and do TikToks. We wanna dance in the locker room and be the team that everybody loves to be around. We wanna make jokes and have fun, but Pittsburgh football ain’t about having fun. It’s about dominating people on the field because of your physicality, but that ain’t what y’all want. Y’all wanna show up and live on the back of legends. Young people aren’t respectful to the past.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5kbXMTmunU

Roethlisberger, however, said these types of mentalities aren’t necessarily the faults of the athletes.

“It’s hard for these young guys too,” Roethlisberger continued. “Social media. They’re treated so well in college. Now this new NIL stuff, which is unbelievable. They’re treated so special. They’re coddled at a young age because college coaches need them to win, too. I know [Terry] Hoeppner never coddled me, and neither did [Bill] Cowher.”

The increase in revenue has led to more money being granted to athletes. This gives players the ability to hold out for on playing to receive bigger contracts. Talent is rewarded, so the accountability isn’t the same as it was years ago. In addition, changes in officiating (roughing the passer, taunting) have made the game of football less physical, which can also factor into why many feel like players are “coddled” nowadays.