Ben Roethlisberger found it hard to accept Kenny Pickett as the new face of the Pittsburgh Steelers last season.

The retired quarterback had Pickett as a guest on his podcast, "Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger," and admitted he initially didn't want the then-rookie to have immediate success.

"I'll be completely honest, I'll be super transparent here, and I'm gonna get blasted," Roethlisberger said.

"I probably shouldn't say this, but who cares at this point. I wouldn't say that I wanted Kenny to necessarily fail, but when someone comes to replace you, I still feel like I had it, I hope he doesn't come ball out. Because then it's like, Ben who?"

Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season following 18 seasons with the Steelers, two Super Bowl wins and several franchise records set.

The Steelers selected Pickett with their first-round draft pick last year, and he broke into the lineup in Week 4 and became the starter the next week, leading the Steelers to a 9-8 record after the team started 2-6.

"Early on I didn't want you to succeed because you followed me up -- I didn't want it to happen. I think that's probably the selfishness of me, and I feel bad for it," Roethlisberger told Pickett.