Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger turns 39 in March, but appears to be playing in the 18th NFL season. However, there is one hurdle he and the franchise have to work through, and that is his contract.
According to Spotrac, Roethlisberger has a base salary of $ 4,000,000 and a roster bonus of $ 15,000,000 in 2021, while carrying a cap hit of $ 41,250,000. As CBS Sports’s Joel Corry noted earlier this month, the Steelers exacerbated the Roethlisberger problem last year when they lowered its 2020 cap number from $ 33.5 million to $ 23.75 million by $ 19.5 million from to convert its $ 21 million 2020 compensation into a sign-up bonus. Roethlisberger’s cap of 2021 was increased by $ 9.75 million in the process. The Steelers will have to restructure its agreement if they want to sign several key free agents, and recently Roethlisberger has made it clear that he is more than open to the idea.
Roethlisberger said Thursday Ed Bouchette of The Athletic that he first went to the Steelers about restructuring his contract.
“I want to do everything I can and have made it very clear to them from the start that it was my idea to help the team basically as much as I can this year,” Roethlisberger said.
“I do not care at all about my pay this year! ”
Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh do not have too long to work out the details, as Roethlisberger’s roster bonus is payable on March 19th. This is still a big development for the Steelers, as it shows that their quarterback will be playing in 2021 and also unveiling. that the two sides are on the same page about what they need to do this off-season to have headroom to work with. Not long before Roethlisberger made these comments, Steelers owner Art Rooney II spoke to reporters about the “Big Ben” financial situation.
“Ben was in. I haven’t sat down with him myself yet, but he sat down with Coach Tomlin and Kevin (Colbert). Ben wants to come back, so we left the door open,” Rooney II said. via Jim Wexell of 247Sports. ‘We were, I think, up front with Ben to let him know that we could not have him back under the current contract, and therefore I think he understands that we need to do some work there. We will have more conversations. We will have more conversations internally. We’ll have more conversations with Ben. It is clear that at some point we need to know what the cap number is to complete some of the decisions. “
Recently, optimism apparently grew when the Steelers and Roethlisberger found a way to stay together in 2021. In his first full season since undergoing major elbow surgery, the two-time Super Bowl champion has 65.6 percent of his passes for 3,803 meters completed. , 33 touches and 10 interceptions. The Steelers started the 2020 season with an 11-0 record, but inconsistencies in offense as well as injuries led to a 1-4 final. These problems followed the Steelers in the post-season, when they fell to the Super Wild-Card Weekend with the Cleveland Browns, 48-37.