Former Steelers linebacker and assistant head coach Joey Porter Sr. recently took serious issue with former teammates Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison during his appearance on Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast. He didn’t like how Roethlisberger and linebacker James Harrison ‘broke the brotherhood’ by openly talking team business and criticizing former head coach Mike Tomlin on their own podcasts. And he wasn’t alone feeling that way, as two Steelers stars were waiting for someone to say it out loud.

After Porter voiced his frustration over the way both players criticized Mike Tomlin, current quarterback Mason Rudolph commented, “Go off,” while linebacker Patrick Queen noted, “Talk!!!” on Cam Heyward’s podcast post.

Apparently before the longtime head coach stepped down last month, Harrison said he never viewed Tomlin as a “great coach,” while Roethlisberger suggested the organization might need to “clean house.”

For Porter, Rudolph and Queen alike, those comments crossed a line, especially given Tomlin’s impact on their careers.

“What makes it crazy for me is to watch those two talk like that and really act like we don’t have the real receipts of how this really works,” Porter said on the podcast. “When they tell their stories, you’ll think Mike didn’t do sh-t for them. I don’t know how to sh- on somebody that looked out for me.”

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Porter doesn’t even see Roethlisberger as a good teammate or good person.

“[Harrison] broke the brotherhood,” Porter said. “Then 7 [Roethlisberger] definitely broke the brotherhood. Out of anybody that should talk, he should never grab a microphone and really talk Steelers business. Because if we talk Steelers business, his a– is the foulest of all. The s— that he did is the foulest of all foul. He’s not a good teammate.

“Won the Super Bowl with him, but the person, he’s just not a good teammate,” he added. “He knows that. Anybody in the Steelers building knows that, but we protected him because I’ve only won one Super Bowl and that was my quarterback. So do I love my quarterback? Yeah, but is he a good person? No.”

Porter’s history with Roethlisberger gives his words weight. He played alongside the quarterback from 2004 to 2006 and later served as an assistant coach from 2014 to 2018. In fact, after his remarks went viral, former teammate Mike Mitchell also supported him, saying, “Peezy talking that talk.” while Will Allen followed with “OG Talk.”

Notably, Porter, Mitchell, and Allen were all part of the Steelers organization during the 2015 season.

Roethlisberger still remains one of the greatest players in franchise history. He retired as the Steelers’ all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. However, besides his recent controversial statements on Tomlin, his career also includes some other well-documented off-field controversies.

Joey Porter Sr. shared Ben Roethlisberger’s bad locker room behavior

On the same podcast, Joey Porter Sr. pointed to a moment that, in his view, summed up how Ben Roethlisberger was viewed inside the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room. Porter explained that players once voted on team captains in the Steel City. But once Roethlisberger took over as the starting quarterback, the team handed him the captain role without a vote.

“Because if he wasn’t a captain, he’d probably throw a hissy fit,” Porter explained. “Nobody’s going to vote for him for captain because he doesn’t have captain qualities.”

Porter recalled early incidents that frustrated veterans inside Acrisure Stadium. According to him, Roethlisberger refused to sign autographs for teammates at the start of his career.

“When he first did it to Chris Hoke, I was like, ‘Damn, that’s messed up, man.’ I grabbed it from Hoke, took it over there, and told him to sign it,” Porter said. “But then, when he did that to Aaron Smith, now I got to have a meeting [with Roethlisberger]. Like you’re a rookie, you’re a young guy.”

Porter then focused more heat on the situation surrounding James Harrison. He argued that Mike Tomlin gave Harrison his true shot, while Bill Cowher repeatedly released him, and Tomlin even let Porter go to create space.

“Why would you take a shot at the guy who changed your life? Because [Bill] Cowher didn’t change your life,” Porter said. “Cowher cut you three times.”

Porter was evidently upset about several things with both Harrison and Roethlisberger.

For Roethlisberger, in particular, the friction between the two is nearly two decades old. In Porter’s view, Roethlisberger might always be a less-than-ideal teammate.