Thieves. Mandatory credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
It has just been announced that longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is returning to his 18th season with the franchise, after restructuring his contract from 19 million to 14 million. The restructuring of the contract frees up some space for the Steelers and gives them a little more flexibility for the 2021 season, after a disappointing ending to a hot start in 2020.
There was some smoke that Big Ben would potentially retire after a season of ups and downs. In 15 games, Big Ben and the Steelers were 12-3, but many of those wins were against .500 teams and many of those wins were very close to that.
Is it time for the Steelers to leave Big Ben?
Statistically, the season was not terrible for Big Ben, although he posted his lowest total past yards since 2012, if we exclude the 2019 season, in which he was injured and only appeared in two games. Ben completed 65.6 percent of his attempts to pass for 3,803 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and those are some big numbers for Ben, but that came in 608 attempts.
608 attempts for a guy in his 17th year and coming out of a season of bruises is not typically a recipe for sustained success. While Ben was fine, he needed a lot of help in the racing game. 2020 was a low year for the entire Steelers backfield and although there is a lot of talent in that RB room, something just isn’t working.
It will be interesting to see if the Steelers will resolve the issue of finding a replacement for Big Ben in this draft or ride another season with Ben, Mason Rudolph and former first-round player Dwayne Haskins.
In this simulation, the Steelers look to the future and plan the next phase of the franchise. Negotiating for the signal caller of the future is something we commonly see in the draft and it happens again in this mock draft as the 2021 NFL Draft is approaching enormously.