Ben Roethlisberger will be back with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2021 season, but he has a clear message for his front office.
This offseason has been a strange one for the Pittsburgh Steelers, to say the least.
Their coaching staff was the first immediate issue after the Steelers ruined a perfectly good 11-0 start with a lackluster 12-4 finish, topped off by an embarrassing Wild Card loss to the Cleveland Browns. While Mike Tomlin is still their leading moving forward, JuJu Smith-Shuster’s future with the team is still in question.
The toughest thing to come to terms with for Steelers fans was probably watching the rapid decline of Ben Roethlisberger. The 17-year veteran and the organization have been in talks to discuss the price tag he’ll cost the team in the 2021 season.
We previously thought that the two parties were nearing an agreement but things may not be going as amicably as we had assumed.
Ben Roethlisberger and his team are unwilling to take a pay cut for the Steelers
Roethlisberger has previously announced that he’d be willing to take a pay cut if it meant he’d return to the team once again this offseason. The $19 million he’s expected to collect this season is typical of mid-tier NFL quarterbacks. He and his camp met with team president Art Rooney II and other members of the Steelers front office to discuss his future with the organization and it reportedly went well.
Now it looks like all sides may not have been on the same page.
NFL Network reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala stated on 93.7 The Fan that Roethlisberger is reassessing his worth with bigger contracts undoubtedly coming this offseason for the likes of Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, and Josh Allen. New contracts for these emerging stars would push Roethlisberger into the bottom half of quarterbacks as far as payment goes. Kinkhabwala said that Ben and his team simply don’t believe that’s where he is at this point in his career.
“They sure as heck don’t believe that they are. And they would absolutely be insulted if the Pittsburgh Steelers act like he is. He is not raising his hand right now and saying, ‘okay, you know what? I’ve made enough money. I’ve made half a billion dollars. Just pay me the veteran minimum and spend all the money on other people’,” said Kinkhabwala.
So what does this mean for Roethlisberger’s future with the team? The Steel Curtain has to be tired of the run-around happening surrounding their future QB, and with the NFL free agency period and draft swiftly approaching, decisions must be made.
Does Big Ben start for the Steelers in 2021?