After some media back and forth, the Pittsburgh Steelers seem to have made a decision: Ben Roethlisberger should continue and lead the Steelers offense again in 2021.
This is reported by Aditi Kinkhabwala, Steelers reporter for the NFL Network . She had previously had a conversation with Roethlisberger’s agent Ryan Tollner, who had told her: “You want Ben back and will contact me soon to address his cap situation. As we have made clear since the end of the season, we are very much open to creative adaptation of his contract in order to lead the best possible team on the field. “
Roethlisberger would currently have a cap hit over 40 million dollars in the coming season and the Steelers had already publicly indicated that he could not stay on these terms.
Recently, GM Kevin Colbert fueled the rumor mill by making it clear that “Ben is now part of the Steelers”, but a clear statement for 2021 was deliberately avoided. A layoff would have saved the Steelers $ 22.25 million in cap savings.
But this topic now seems off the table. Tollner continued: “A year ago Ben was not sure whether he would be able to throw again (due to the elbow injury, d. Ed.). But he fought his way back to twelve wins and the eighth division title of his career At the end they ran out of breath and that gnaws at him. The fire is there and he still has plenty in the tank. “
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport added that a meeting between Roethlisberger and team owner Art Rooney has taken place and that head coach Mike Tomlin also wants to continue with the quarterback. Rooney finally told Big Ben on Tuesday that he wanted to hold him. An agreement from a financial point of view should now be reached promptly.
