He wants to stay – the team wants him to stay.
So what’s the problem?
For the Steelers and QB Ben Roethlisberger, it seems like the two sides would not have much of an issue coming up with a new deal. He’s coming off a season in which he was better than ever, throwing for 4,952 yards, leading the NFL.
He’s at the end of his deal at the end of 2015, and there’s already Steelers fans that are starting to sweat about their franchise QB leaving after the year.
At the end of the day, there’s no way it should happen.
“I felt great all year [on his contract situation],” Roethlisberger said Tuesday on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. “Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
Mike Tomlin said in his year end presser that there’s good and bad about signing a ready to move on without player before his deal is up, but he can’t possibly be ready to see his QB leave, more so with no backup plan in place.
The QB is set to bring in $11.6 million in the last year of his deal, and ESPN states he will cost the black and gold $18.395 million on the cap.
While it’s going to be nerve wracking till it gets done, Ben and the Steelers need to and should get a deal done quickly, not only keeping him with the team for the remainder of his career, but also helping out the teams cap number for 2015.
At 33 years old, Big Ben has plenty of good football left in him. My bet is he stays with the Steelers, wraps up what will be a Hall of Fame career, and drives off in the sunset with one more ring to his name.
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DaveB.
January 7, 2015 at 7:40 am
Here’s the way I look at it . From 1980 till 2005 the Pittsburgh Steelers went to one Super Bowl in 1995 against Dallas and lost . One Super Bowl appearance in 25 years . Thats a lifetime for some people . Ben is drafted in 2004 and in that span he has been the starting quarterback on three Super Bowl teams . The Steelers won two of those Super Bowls . The simple math is , three Super Bowls in the last ten years with two wins . Ben is 33 years old and he still has four or five very good years left in his career . He deserves an extension of at least five or six years . Do you give him another 10 year , 100 million dollar deal ? The answer is no . What the Steelers will do is anyones guess . At the end of the day , Ben is a franchise quarterback and he has the Vince Lombardi trophys to prove it . Without Ben , the Steelers are a five or six win team tops . With him , were a playoff contender . He has to be re-signed .
DrGeorge
January 8, 2015 at 6:28 pm
I agree with DaveB, as I usually do, but this time for very different reasons. The Steelers will almost certainly resign Ben R., because they have painted themselves into a corner by failing to develop a QB for the future. Landry Jones (5th Rd, 2013) has shown no signs of being NFL ready. Gradkowski was good enough to beat the Steelers when he played for Cincinnati; he is a solid backup; but he has never threatened to displace Ben and never displayed an arm equal to Charlie Batch. Tomlin has allowed our QB situation to languish, and the Steelers will be obliged to pay for that oversight. We can only hope the Rooneys are astute enough to minimize the guaranteed money regardless of the contract terms so they can cut their loses later. I feel sure neither Ben nor his agent will take less than he is currently making on an annual basis.
Where I disagree with DaveB is in my assessment of Ben’s worth to the team. He seems to have bought into Haley’s system at last, but his play has not improved markedly since Super Bowl 40, when his QB rating was 27. He is not an assiduous student of the game (like P. Manning, T. Brady), he still tends to hold the ball too long (either because he doesn’t ready defenses quickly enough or is easily fooled), he misses open receivers badly, and he is ineffective in the red zone. That last deficiency alone makes him worth considerably less than he is making now.
For that reason, the Steelers would be better served by (a) signing a veteran QB who can run the spread efficiently (think a young Kurt Warner), (b) using the money saved from Ben’s contract to shore up the defensive line and secondary, and (c) finding a rookie QB they can develop (using Landry’s salary). That is what I would do. But as I said above, that is not what the Steelers will do. They will re-sign Ben to keep attendance figures up and accept mediocrity for another two years.
DaveB.
January 9, 2015 at 6:54 am
I agree with DrGeorge in regards to the Steelers not trying to develop a competent quarterback behind Ben . That should have been done a couple years ago and it hasnt .The drafting of Landry Jones was a complete waste of a draft pick and to this day makes no sense . When the day comes and Ben is no longer there , the Steelers are in trouble . Regardless of how much time and money is spent on the defense , this is a quarterback driven league . You have to have the trigger man if you want to win in the NFL today and the Steelers failure to develop one behind Ben is going to come back to haunt them .
jbmail
January 9, 2015 at 1:37 pm
Doesn’t matter what Steelers do Ravens will beat them again !