Mike Singletary says that he once vetoed a trade that would have sent Ben Roethlisberger to the San Francisco 49ers.

The former 49ers coach told The Athletic that the front office told him in 2009 that they had a deal in place with the Pittsburgh Steelers to acquire Roethlisberger, but that he declined because this was shortly after the quarterback had been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a woman in Lake Tahoe.

"I had been telling the team I wanted a team of character," Singletary said. “I felt I had to be true to that. But if I could do it again, I'd do it differently."