ALLEN PARK -- The Steelers drafted Mason Rudolph to provide some depth behind Ben Roethlisberger. You know who isn't a big fan of that?

If you follow the NFL at all, of course you do.

Roethlisberger has made headlines this week for saying he's unwilling to help develop the rookie quarterback. But the dirty little secret in the NFL is this isn't exactly rare behavior. Guys just normally have the good sense not to talk about it.

In Detroit, though, this hasn't been a problem. By all accounts, publicly and otherwise, the club's locker room culture is a healthy one that encourages veterans to help bring along younger players -- even if those younger players are also their competition for jobs.

It's a delicate balance, and one the Lions will continue to try to maintain this year with the glut of running backs now in their backfield. Theo Riddick and Ameer Abdullah, the starters from last season, are both back. So are Zach Zenner, Dwayne Washington and Tion Green.

Now the Lions have tossed a grenade into the mix by signing LeGarrette Blount in free agency, then dealing a fourth-round pick to move up for Kerryon Johnson in the second round of the draft. And just for good measure, they used a seventh-round pick to bring back the fullback in Nick Bawden.

Count 'em up, and you get eight guys battling for probably four or five roster spots.

That kind of competition is good for a team -- especially a team that has rushed for the fewest yards in the NFL over the last three years -- but it can be hard on players.

But Riddick says that won't be the case.

"It's never a conflict," he said. "I put my teammates first. I was always taught that as a player, as a young kid, and I continue to live that out. So it really doesn't affect me. Even, again, with Blount being here, I'm just trying to get him to soak up the playbook as fast as possible, because if I can do that, then it helps us all. I just want to win."

That's the sort of thing everyone says, so you're not wrong to take it with a grain of salt. But it's also worth pointing out Detroit's running back room has long fostered younger players.

Consider last season, when Green joined the mix as an undrafted rookie. He represented a very real threat to somebody's job, yet all four returners helped him on the practice field and in the film room. They went so far as to let Green sleep at their houses so he didn't have to stay in a hotel.

He wound up making the team, then came on late in a strong final month of the season. And he repeatedly credited his development to the other running backs' willingness to take him in.

Now consider Riddick himself. He was a sixth-round pick back in 2013, just hoping to make the team. Guys like Reggie Bush and Joique Bell helped him along. Now here he is six years later, Detroit's longest-tenured and highest-paid running back.

And he intends to pay the favor forward to Johnson and Blount, even as they threaten to eat into his snaps.

"For me coming in, having guys like Reggie Bush and Joique (Bell) in the past be so helpful to me has definitely helped me help others," Riddick said. "(I'm going to) try to lead, and help them make the team, and gain knowledge about the game and things of that nature."

Riddick has bloomed into a really good pass-catching running back in Detroit, but he acknowledges the long-standing issues in the running game too and just how much that has inhibited the team. So he says he's eager to get rolling with the new-look rotation, no matter where he falls into the mix.

"I want to win," he said. "I just want to win."