After Sunday’s playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger made it very clear that he would be returning next season. In short, there will be no drama surrounding Roethlisberger this offseason like there was last offseason. It also appears as though Roethlisberger now intends on playing well past 2018.
According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, Roethlisberger, who is currently under contract through the 2019 season, has told a few teammates that he wants to play at least another three seasons.
In short, Roethlisberger isn’t going anywhere for a while and he really has no reason to based on the offensive talent he’s currently surrounded by. His 2017 season was a solid one and he showed in Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars that he still has his deep ball touch.
With Roethlisberger now seemingly back for at least next season, it will be interesting to see if offensive coordinator Todd Haley will join him. Haley’s contract is expiring and there are no signs currently that he’ll be re-signed. If Haley doesn’t return, there’s a good chance that quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner will succeed him.
One other thing that needs to be considered should Roethlisberger indeed want to continue playing at least three more seasons is the fact that he might now sign a short contract extension during the upcoming offseason. If he does that, it would likely result in his 2018 salary cap charge dropping some. He’s currently slated to earn a base salary of $12 million in 2018 and is also due a $5 million roster bonus during the offseason.
If Roethlisberger were to have any thing done with his contract it would likely happen prior to the start of the new league year in March.
Stay tuned.
