When the Pittsburgh Steelers inked defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi a week ago the first thing that came to the mind of many was 'how is Mason Rudolph going to feel about this?' That's because when the infamous fight between Rudolph and Myles Garrett went down back in 2019 it was Ogunjobi that came to Garrett's defense.
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After the initial helmet dislodgement and assault on Rudolph from Garrett an incident between Ogunjobi and Rudolph happened. Ogunjobi came in full bore and leveled the Steelers quarterback to the ground. Ogunjobi received a one game suspension for his role in the fight. But what was even worse was after the game.
Garrett accused Rudolph of using a racial slur. He said that was what caused him to get so enraged that he ripped another players helmet off his head and hit him with it. There was never any proof of that actually happening, but after the game Ogunjobi stuck up for Garrett claiming that Garrett had told him that it happened, and he believed him.
Here's the whole sequence if you've forgotten.
- Roughing the passer helmet hit on Mason Rudolph
— Daniel Valente (@StatsGuyDaniel) November 15, 2019
- Helmet to helmet hit on JuJu Smith-Schuster
- Helmet to helmet hit on Diontae Johnson
- Myles Garrett swings a helmet at Rudolph's head
- Larry Ogunjobi comes in with a cheap shot on Rudolph
Browns are out of control. pic.twitter.com/6b4beiz0zd
Now fast forward to last week. Not only have the Steelers added two more quarterbacks to their roster that will likely end his chance at starting in 2022, but now they've added a guy who defended him being called a racist. That had to sting. But on Wednesday Ogunjobi joined the Movin' The Chain's show on XM Radio with hosts Pat Kirwan, and Jim Miller. During the show Ogunjobi was asked about which new teammates reached out to him.
"Yeah, to be honest I know a bunch of the guys from you know just playing against them," Ogunjobi continued on XM Radio. "From being in the league, now going on my sixth year. So, the love was already there. Obviously, I've been in the division, I've been in the division for six years now seeing the guys like Cam, TJ, Highsmith, those guys all reached out. Karl Joseph, Genard Avery there's a bunch of guys that reached out, Mason Rudolph. You know guys reaching out, happy to have me. So just excited to get to work. So, I understand that business is a game and things happen. And again, I'm blessed for the opportunity and excited to get to work."
AP Photo/David Richard
So, let's see. He mentioned the obvious two with TJ Watt, and Cam Heyward. Then he mentioned his former college teammate at Charlotte, Alex Highsmith. From there he mentioned two guys he used to play with in Cleveland, Karl Joseph, and Genard Avery. But then he slipped in the Mason Rudolph.
Unfortunately, he didn't elaborate more on what his conversation with Rudolph was about. Have they made up since the initial incident? It's very likely. Could this have been the first time they talked? It's hard to say. Hopefully once he gets in the room with some Pittsburgh media folks that they'll ask him about that call. If only we could've been a fly on the wall for that conversation.
Regardless of their relationship it seems like their time as teammates could be coming to an end by September anyway.
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