Martavis Bryant openly stated that he wanted the Pittsburgh Steelers to trade him last season, and he finally got his wish during the draft when he was sent to the Oakland Raiders for a third-round pick. Still, Ben Roethlisberger was surprised to see the receiver go.
When asked about the trade on Tuesday, Roethlisberger said he was “caught off guard” and sounded disappointed with the move.
“When I heard about Martavis, I was like ‘Oh, man.’ I really enjoyed playing with Martavis,” Roethlisberger said, per Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I think he was a great weapon, he helped our offense, did some great things by attracting attention and making plays for us. I was kind of caught off guard, but teams have reasons for doing things. I think part of it was him expressing trade things that we all heard so much about. I think he’s probably pretty happy. For him and his family, if you’re in a good happy place, then good for him.”
The deal with Oakland was really a no-brainer for the Steelers, as a third-round pick is great value for a disgruntled player in the final year of his contract. They almost certainly weren’t going to re-sign Bryant after the 2018 season, anyway. Pittsburgh ended up drafting Oklahoma State’s James Washington in the second round, so its not as if Big Ben’s receiving corps is being stripped away.
“When (the trade) happened, obviously we knew they would try to address that position in the draft,” he said. “I know a little bit about that kid from Oklahoma State, watched some of his highlights. A lot of people are comparing him to JuJu [Smith-Schuster]. If we can get JuJu’s productivity out of him, that’s awesome.”
Roethlisberger and Bryant had some issues last year that they appeared to work out, but Big Ben couldn’t have been all that shocked to see the 26-year-old traded. When players want out of town badly enough, typically teams find a way to make it happen.
