Ben Roethlisberger influenced Eric Ebron's decision to sign with Steelers

Eric Ebron was attending a Christian-based conference in January when he learned that Ben Roethlisberger would be one of the speakers.

Ebron always wanted to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. Before he could approach Roethlisberger, he was beaten to the punch. In their conversation, the 6-foot-4, 253-pound tight end mentioned to Roethlisberger that he was going to be a free agent.

Two months later, Ebron signed with the Steelers and, if all goes according to plan, he will spend the next two seasons catching passes from the 16-year veteran quarterback.

Coincidence?

“Maybe he pulled a string or two,” Ebron said, laughing. “Who knows?”

In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Ebron talked about his decision to sign with the Steelers and admitted that Roethlisberger played a significant role — regardless of whether Big Ben put in a good word to team management.

“I’ve always loved Ben Roethlisberger,” Ebron said. “It was an opportunity to play with an elite quarterback, and that’s where it kind of led to.”

Roethlisberger turned 38 in March, is coming off the most serious injury of his career and hasn’t thrown a pass since September. Ebron, though, has no doubts about the status of the quarterback who has won two Super Bowl titles and led the NFL in passing yards as recently as 2018.

“I think Ben has been through more injuries than anybody,” he said. “For him to tell us that he’s throwing without pain and he hasn’t felt like this in years, we have to take that into account. … If he says that, he means that. … If he feels good, this is good and we’ll have a lot of fun.”

Ebron was one of the NFL’s top tight ends in 2018 in his first season with the Indianapolis Colts. He caught 66 passes for 750 yards and 13 touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl for the first time. Then, quarterback Andrew Luck abruptly retired near the end of the 2019 preseason.

Ebron’s production dropped to 31 catches, 375 yards and three scores, the Colts finished 7-9 after making the playoffs the previous year and Ebron finished the year on injured reserve with an ankle injury.

Ebron said the problems began mounting “from the moment you hear your quarterback is leaving.”

“When that happens, it’s frustration throughout the whole organization,” he said. “I felt like we didn’t handle it that well. I don’t feel like anyone handled it well. It was a tough year.”

Ebron doesn’t regret his decision to end his season in late November when he elected to have surgery on an ankle that he said was bothering him since the start of the year.

“Nobody knows the specifics, and it’s not really for me to explain,” he said. “All I know is I played through the injury until I said I couldn’t do it any longer.”

Ebron, who said the ankle will be fine by the start of the season, is looking for a fresh start with the Steelers.

“I feel like it’s one of those iconic, historic organizations that if you’re lucky enough to play for, if you get that opportunity, then of course you don’t turn them down,” he said.

That chance meeting with Roethlisberger at the Pro Athletes Outreach conference also weighed in Ebron’s favor.

“He struck me as someone that I would love to play with,” Ebron said. “We didn’t know we would have that opportunity at the time. We talked about what if, and it’s pretty cool that it actually happened.”

If, with Roethlisberger’s help, Ebron can reproduce his 2018 statistics, it would greatly benefit a Steelers team that had one of the worst offenses in the NFL last year while their franchise quarterback was sidelined for all but six quarters.

“If I can be Big Ben’s best friend, that’s kind of like how it was with Andrew,” he said. “I was always in his ear, in his pocket. I just try to figure out the game through their lens, because they are elite guys at this level.”