It's Clear the Steelers Haven't Made a Decision on Ben Roethlisberger
PITTSBURGH -- The roller coaster ride between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger continues.
On Wednesday, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert spoke with media on a Zoom call to address everything the 2020 season offered and discuss the future of the organization. Highlighting the 30-minute conference call was Roethlisberger and the decision to return, or not return, in 2021.
"As we sit here today, Ben is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers," Colbert said. "He met with Coach (Mike) Tomlin, he met with Art Rooney (II), he met with myself shortly after the season ended and he reiterated to us that he wanted to continue to play and we told him quite frankly that we have to look at this current situation."
That situation is tricky. The Steelers are currently $15 million over the expected salary cap, which could grow if the NFL puts the cap at the $175 million floor.
Roethlisberger, who's entering the 2021 season at 38-years-old, is set to take on a $41.25 million cap hit. If he retires, that number is $22.25 million. If he restructures, it's $27.125 million.
"Hopefully there is a way that we can try to figure out and try to do what's best for the organization and do what's best for Ben," Colbert said. "Hopefully, he will see that and feel the same way we do but there is a lot of work that needs to be done not only with Ben but our whole unrestricted free-agent class and our whole cap situation as well."
Two weeks ago, expectations were that Roethlisberger was on his way back to Pittsburgh for another season. "I don't care about my pay at all this year," the quarterback told The Athletic.
It didn't have the feel in Colbert's conference call, though. Instead, the answers revolved around the concern of the team's cap situation and how worried the GM was about the 24 free agents they'll need to assess along with Roethlisberger's contract.
"We were all dealt a loss through the pandemic, and we have to deal with that accordingly. And we will," Colbert said. "It's not unique to us. Two-thirds of the league is facing similar issues. How that all comes together in the next few weeks, we'll continue to look at it.
"It is first and foremost financially because we have to be in compliance. Then we're making guesstimates as to what we can do to put the best team together for our sake and for Ben's sake. What kind of team can he anticipate being around him if we decide we can move forward together."
It's going to take every bit of compliance from both sides in order for this situation to work. Colbert said the Steelers would like to keep Bud Dupree around and talked about players like Alejandro Villanueva and Matt Feiler. All on top of having to replace Maurkice Pouncey, Vance McDonald and expected departures like James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
So, at this point, the Steelers' decision on Ben Roethlisberger remains very up in the air.
"It's an ongoing process," Colbert said. "It just doesn't involve him. It involves the players around him. I'm sure he's going to want to see what type of team we can keep together under our current situation. Hopefully we can all make the correct adjustments to keep the group together as much as possible."
Noah Strackbein is a Publisher with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
