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After a deliberate climb to the top of the NFL standings, the Steelers experienced a steep fall to close their season. Likewise, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was in vintage form for almost three months before showing his age in the stretch race.
So was last week’s wild card loss the last we’ll see from the future Hall of Famer? Probably not.
There is optimism within the organization that Big Ben will be back in 2021, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported on Saturday. Coach Mike Tomlin said earlier in the week that a return from Roethlisberger was welcome. This would involve a new offensive coordinator, as the team have already parted ways with longtime assistant Randy Fichtner.
Part of the discussion going forward will likely be about Roethlisberger’s contract. He’s on the books for another year at $ 19 million, which is hardly a burden. But its cap reaches $ 41 million. Seventeen years after their marriage, Big Ben and the Steelers should have no problem mitigating that number, Garafolo noted.
A restructuring would help the team keep some of their impending free agents. According to Garafolo, Roethlisberger has already announced that if he returns, he also wants wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on board.
The two fought a week ago in Pittsburgh’s loss to the Browns. Smith-Schuster posted a season-high 13 catches and 157 yards. Big Ben’s 47 wins, 501 yards, 4 touchdowns were also his best marks of the 2020 campaign. But so were his four interceptions. They capped a late-season faint from the 38-year-old.
After throwing 22 touchdowns to just 4 INT in the first nine games of the season, made even more impressive by the fact that he missed most of 2019 with an elbow injury, his ratio dropped to 15- 10 in the last eight. His struggles, of course, coincided almost entirely with the Steelers, who started 11-0 before losing five of their last six games.
This is not how they wanted to go out. It would be a surprise if this is how it ended for Roethlisberger.
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