Steelers president Art Rooney met with Ben Roethlisberger on Tuesday to discuss the quarterback’s future. On Wednesday morning, Rooney let fans know that the meeting was productive and a big step towards moving forward together. 
“Ben Roethlisberger and I met yesterday morning and we had a productive meeting,” Rooney said. “We were able to discuss a lot of things that relate to where we are and where we want to go. Ben assured me that he is committed to coming back to help us win, and I told Ben that we would like to have him back to help us win a championship. We both understand the next step is to work out Ben’s contract situation.”
Roethlisberger’s agent Ryan Tollner made similar comments yesterday following the meeting. Of course, the big barrier here is Big Ben’s contract. The veteran is set to count for more than $41MM against the Steelers’ 2021 cap. In one fashion or another, that number has to be tampered down. It’s the highest cap hit of any player for 2021, and the overall salary cap is set to drop for the first time in a decade.
Roethlisberger, who turns 39 next week, isn’t the only Steelers player in flux. JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner, Bud Dupree, Mike Hilton and Alejandro Villanueva are also slated for free agency, and the Steelers don’t have the capital to keep all of them. Even without those players factored in, the Steelers are already looking at a ~$210MM payroll, which probably puts them $20MM-$25MM over the to-be-determined max.
Completely unrelated to the article, but Ben looks like Will Farrell in that picture if he had ever done a football comedy
Good eye.
Jackie Moon as a QB would be great
He looks like a Superbowl Champion too. I know Steeler fans are mixed on starting next chapter w/o Ben but I for one say if they can minimize the cap hit- let’s run it back one more time. I don’t want his career to end with that kind of losing streak. He deserves that…and I’m not ready to have seen that Steeler great for the last time. Let’s go Big Ben.
Not a Steelers fan but I would hate for his last game to go down like it did. He deserves a better exit but that is not always the case.
Wouldn’t bother me
Wouldn’t it be a cool twist for a young RB to set up and get an old QB another ring! Flipping the young Ben winning it with the Bus script.
What a great informative article. I especially loved it when Sam Robinson wrote it yesterday.