Ben Roethlisberger plans to play another season in 2021, but he is going to have to restructure his contract if he wants to do so with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two-time Super Bowl champion says that will not be a problem.
Roethlisberger is scheduled to have a salary cap hit of $41.2 million next season, which is the highest of any player in the NFL. Steelers president Art Rooney II told reporters on Thursday that Roethlisberger’s cap number will have to be addressed if the 38-year-old wants to return.
“I think we’ve been up front with Ben in letting him know that we couldn’t have him back under the current contract. I think he understands we have some work to do there,” Rooney said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “We’ll have more conversations internally, and we’ll have more conversations with Ben, and we’ll have to know what the cap number is to finalize some of those decisions.”
Steelers fans will be happy to know that Big Ben is not concerned about it. He told Ed Bouchette of The Athletic that he and Rooney “agree on everything.”
“I don’t care bout my pay at all this year!” Roethlisberger said. “I want to do everything I can and made that very clear to them from the very beginning that it was my idea to basically help the team however I can this year.”
Roethlisberger added that he is planning to play one more season because he believes the Steelers have “a real chance (of) winning.”
The Steelers got off to an 11-0 start this season before stumbling down the stretch. Their season ended with an embarrassing first-round playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns. Roethlisberger was emotional after the game, and you can see what he said to one veteran teammate here.
Roethlisberger finished the season with a passer rating of 94.1, which was 19th in the NFL. Still, he’s experienced enough that he gives the Steelers a chance to win. They should be happy he’s coming back, though it is certainly time to start thinking about life without him.
