The 2004 NFL Draft yielded Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, but it was Ben Roethlisberger, the third QB taken, who won the Super Bowl first.

A former MAC Player of the Year at Miami of Ohio, Roethlisberger won the starting Quarterback role in the third game of his rookie season.  Roethlisberger went 13-0 that year, won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, and took the Steelers to the AFC Conference Final.  The season after, Roethlisberger went further, leading Pittsburgh to their fifth Super Bowl win.

From this point on, Roethlisberger was considered to be one of the better Quarterbacks in football.  “Big Ben” and the Steelers won another Super Bowl (XLIII), and he was chosen for six Pro Bowls, including four consecutive, from 2014 to 2017.  Roethlisberger led the NFL in Passing Yards twice and had six 4,000 Passing Yard seasons. He also has seven 25-TD years.

Roethlisberger retired after the 2021, and at the time of his career-end, he had 64,088 Passing Yards (fifth all-time), 418 Touchdown Passes (eighth all-time) with an Approximate Value of 208 (14^th all-time).  The negative that will dog Roethlisberger is his past sexual assault allegations, which had they happened in the #MeToo era would be discussed far more than it is, but as it stands now, it likely won’t impede him at all.

Andrew Whitworth played his college ball at LSU, and was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals in the Second Round of the 2006 Draft.  Although he became a starter as a rookie, Whitworth didn’t break out until his 30s, earning his first Pro Bowl at 31 in 2012.  Earning a First Team All-Pro in 2015, and a second Pro Bowl, Whitworth secured a third in 2016, his last with the Bengals.

Whitworth signed with the Rams in 2017, and in his first year in L.A., he was again a First Team All-Pro, and captured his fourth and final trip to the Pro Bowl.  Staying with the Rams until his retirement, Whitworth ended his career perfectly, winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year the day before he anchored the line that helped bring the Rams the Super Bowl.

Whitworth left the game with 239 Games Played, and his 142 in Approximate Value was then 88^th all-time.

With his play in the last half of his career, Whitworth carved out a case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A two-time Morris winner at California, Alex Mack was a First Round Pick in 2009 (21^st Overall) by the Cleveland Browns, and he stepped in immediately under Quarterback and under the learning tree of future Hall of Fame Lineman, Joe Thomas, would make the Pro Bowl in his sophomore season.  A Pro Bowler again in 2013 and 2015, Mack joined the Atlanta Falcons, where he earned three more Pro Bowl Selections, before finishing his career in 2021 as a San Francisco 49er, where he earned Pro Bowl number seven.

Undrafted in 2010 after his college career at Army, Alejandro Villanueva went back into military service but in 2014 pursued a career in Pro Football, and despite all odds, was able to gain an invite to the Philadelphia Eagles as a Defensive End in training camp.  He did not make the team, but was courted by Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who converted him to a Tackle.  It worked, and after a year on the practice roster, and gaining significant weight, he became a starting Left Tackle for Pittsburgh the following year.

Villanueva continued to get better, and was a back-to-back Pro Bowl Selection in 2017 and 2018.  A solid performer for the Steelers in the last half of the 2010s, Villanueva might be best known for standing in the entrance tunnel during the national anthem when his teammates stayed behind to protest racial injustice.  It may not have him endeared him to some teammates, but it did raise his profile in the NFL.

After a final year with the Baltimore Ravens in 2021, Villanueva ended his career after seven seasons.