Roethlisberger suspension leads to trade talks

NEW YORK – The bad behavior of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger resulted Wednesday in a six-game suspension by the NFL and reportedly has triggered what once would have been unthinkable: The Steelers are testing the market to trade him.

According to an ESPN report, Pittsburgh has been contacting teams selecting in the top 10 of this year’s draft, which begins at 4:30 p.m. PDT today, to gauge interest in the two-time Super Bowl winner. The network reported the Steelers had talked to St. Louis, San Francisco, Oakland, Jacksonville, Seattle and Cleveland. The 49ers are the only one of those clubs without a top-10 pick (13 and 17).

In a conference call with reporters, Steelers President Art Rooney II was vague on the subject but didn’t deny his team was shopping the quarterback, who last month was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student in Georgia but will not face charges.

“As we’ve said before, we really can’t answer questions about trades, particularly this time of year,” Rooney said. “We go into every draft with the idea that we’re going to do anything we’ve got to do to make our team a better football team. We just have to stick with that and not discuss trades in advance.”

What’s clear is the league and the Steelers have all but run out of patience with Roethlisberger, who last year faced similar accusations by a woman in Nevada.

Roethlisberger will be suspended without pay for six games – losing $2.8 million in salary – for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy, and he must undergo a “comprehensive behavioral evaluation by medical professionals,” the NFL said.