Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, which means he will play for his third AFC North team. Ogunjobi is used to making friends with former rivals, but the Steelers present him with his biggest challenge yet.
Ogunjobi took part in the infamous “helmet swing” brawl seen around the world in 2019, when the Cleveland Browns and Steelers went at it on “Thursday Night Football” in November. Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph were the stars of the saga, but Ogunjobi was suspended one game for laying out a helmet-less Rudolph.
Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said on his “Not Just Football” podcast that he called Ogunjobi, who asked if being teammates with Rudolph was going to be weird.
“I called Larry, and he was like, ‘Is it gonna be weird at all?’ And I was like, ‘No, we are all focused on winning right now,”http://www.cbssports.com/” Heyward said, via SteelersDepot.com. “I think you have to be able to work together, and just try to accomplish a common goal. To keep talking about stuff that happened in the past only holds back the team.”
Heyward also said that he thinks Ogunjobi was open about the incident and approached it how he should have.
“I think Larry and Mason have already talked,” Heyward said. “I haven’t done anything to work on that, but I think Larry was very open and upfront about it. He wanted to make sure everybody was on the same page and didn’t want to let anything happen. He’s been all in, and I think him just addressing it and being straightforward is huge for our team, and now we’re just focused on football.”
It was probably the most infamous moment in the Steelers-Browns rivalry, but it appears both Ogunjobi and Rudolph are not going to hold any grudges over it.
KVSP