It was exactly eighty days ago when things looked pretty darn good for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were 11-0, flirting with perfection, possibly headed for AFC home field advantage and with a defense good enough to make their rivals quake. Then the Steelers lost to the Washington Football Team. Then they kept losing some more. Then it got really messy and they looked like one of the worst teams in the league. And then they got destroyed in the playoffs by their traditional divisional victims, the Cleveland Browns. And oh, that might be just the start of it. Talk about messy? Pittsburgh is about to experience the delights of salary cap hell and may have checkmated itself into having just one solution. Ben Roethlisberger. Now, you might have picked up that certain aging quarterbacks seem to be having a nice time lately, but Roethlisberger isn’t Tom Brady and, at nearly 39, represents both a major headache and a partial cure for his team of 17 years. If he can be persuaded to indulge the Steelers getting creative on a payment restructure, it can help alleviate some of the salary cap knots. However, that outcome also locks Pittsburgh into another year of Roethlisberger as the main man, which is not something all fans still regard as the best option. “Ben Roethlisberger and I met yesterday morning and we had a productive meeting,” team owner Art Rooney wrote in a statement. “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.” That would all point to a far greater likelihood of Roethlisberger being the 2021 starter than it seemed recently, when general manager Kevin Colbert gave the faintest show of support possible, telling reporters Big Ben was the quarterback of choice … “as we sit here today.” So why is Pittsburgh likely to run it back with him again, especially after he looked so shaky for much of the campaign – even, it should be noted, when the group was on its winning tear? Because, in part, they probably feel they have to. Under his current deal, Roethlisberger comes with an excruciating salary cap hit of $41 million, the highest of any player in the league. With nearly half the roster poised to enter free agency and already $19 million over the limit, it is certain several key contributors will move on. Roethlisberger can do a couple of things about it. The ultimate gesture would be to take a voluntary pay cut, with a minimum salary for a veteran in his position of $1 million. Despite him telling The Athletic he doesn’t care about “my pay at all this year!” that would be a stunning development and there is no reason why he should do it. The other prevalent option would involve a longer deal, which might never get played out but would let the Steelers balance the books better. If much of the $19 million Roethlisberger is actually set to receive was converted to a signing bonus, he would get the money now, but Pittsburgh’s cap would be charged for it in smaller, yearly increments. But what if it comes with a footballing cost, namely a new reality more in common with the grim back end to the campaign where the team ended with a 1-5 run? “This is a very odd place for the Steelers to be in. This is going to be maybe the first year (in memory) that the Steelers go into a season thinking they are not contending for a Super Bowl,” FS1’s Nick Wright said on First Things First. “There are certain teams that are contending every year. Their whole organizational history has been competing for championships. You can’t compete for a championship if you are willingly signing up for the worst QB in the division.” Roethlisberger is not Lamar Jackson and that’s fine, yet he may also no longer be at the level of the Cleveland Browns’ Baker Mayfield or the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow. The upcoming season will also see a more punishing schedule, including matchups with the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans – and none of the opportunities to beat up on NFC East teams that were offered last time. The 2020 offense ran into trouble when they failed to establish a run game and it all revolved around Roethlisberger getting the ball out quickly. Defenses caught on, adjusted, and flipped the entire script. The two-time Super Bowl champion isn’t getting any more mobile and, to expound the problem, his offensive line might be severely depleted in free agency, with center Maurkice Pouncey having already retired. According to former All-Pro Brandon Marshall, the best choice would be to begin what may be a painful transition away from Roethlisberger as soon as possible, either with current No. 2 Mason Rudolph or an affordable, reliable veteran. “You cut ties with Big Ben, you double down on your defense,” Marshall said. “You go find a stop gap QB, but you got to start that transition right now.” FOX Bet lists Pittsburgh at +2500 to win the Super Bowl next season, positioning them as the 12th favorite. At +6600, Roethlisberger is a longer price to win MVP than Drew Brees, who is all but certain to retire. Big questions remain as to who the Steelers can get back into uniform and at what value. T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick have played their way into the status of defensive cornerstones and keeping them around long term will not be cheap. Financial gymnastics and contractual ingenuity are part of the modern NFL and allow teams who are the smartest to give themselves an edge. Or, sometimes, to paint themselves into a corner. There is perhaps no better example of that than where the Steelers currently find themselves. They still have a couple of moves to try but they are paying the price for previous machinations that they thought would lead to a run at a Super Bowl. Now, they are stuck in an unenviable spot, with what shapes up as a difficult season ahead. All of it overshadowed by the reality that the most practical fix, a Roethlisberger rewrite, might not be the best one. Here’s what others have said … Danny Heifetz, The Ringer: “Pittsburgh’s offseason to-do list is longer than a CVS receipt. The team is already over the cap and has a staggering 24 players, or roughly half the team, hitting free agency. The Steelers have little chance of keeping some big names.” Curt Popejoy, Yahoo Sports: “For everyone excited about the promise of a better 2021 season with Big Ben back under center, you should probably temper your enthusiasm. The Steelers have won three playoff games over the last 10 seasons and with better all-around teams than the Steelers will field in 2021. They will be competitive but this isn’t a final run at the Super Bowl roster for Roethlisberger. This doesn’t fix the real problem.” Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Post Gazzette: “It’s a bit surreal to see what was essentially the announced return of a franchise icon greeted with the same enthusiasm you’d expect for news that Matt Feiler is coming back to play swing tackle. And I’m not saying the critics are wrong.” |
