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About an hour ago
Team president Art Rooney II said Ben Roethlisberger wanted to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers for an 18e NFL season in 2021.
The Steelers would like their franchise quarterback to return for another year, but on one condition:
They are to negotiate a salary cap of $ 41.25 million which is expected to hit the books in March.
“Ben wants to come back,” Rooney II said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. “We left this door open. We were upfront with Ben to let him know that we couldn’t find him under the current contract. He understands that we have work to do there.
While Roethlisberger is expected to earn $ 4 million in base salary plus a $ 15 million bonus in March, that $ 19 million in cash is not half of the quarterback’s salary cap. Due to a prorated $ 37.5 million signing bonus Roethlisberger received in 2019 when he negotiated his current contract, as well as a $ 9.75 million restructuring in the years to coming up, the $ 41.25 million cap is the highest for any NFL player in 2021.
The Steelers already have salary cap obligations of $ 215 million to the top 51 players under contract for next season. The salary cap was $ 198.2 million in 2020 and could be as low as $ 175 million next year due to the pandemic which has drastically reduced earnings.
“I think it’s fair to say that this will probably be the toughest salary cap challenge we’ve had in a long time, maybe ever,” Rooney said.
If the Steelers release Roethlisberger or if he retires – which would be unexpected given his stance towards Rooney that he wants to play in 2021 – his contract would still include $ 22.5 million in ‘dead money’. The key for the Steelers is to lower the cap Roethlisberger reached in 2021 to as close to $ 22.5 million as possible.
This means the Steelers would have to sign Roethlisberger, who turns 39 in March, for an extension that is being delayed to lower his cap, or they would have to convince him to sign a new one-year deal for less than $ 19 million than he did. it is due this year.
“It takes two to figure this out,” Rooney said. “Whether we agree with him or vice versa, we’ll just have to see.”
Returning from right elbow surgery, Roethlisberger completed 65% of his passes and threw for 3,808 yards with 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Roethlisberger, however, threw six of his interceptions in his last six starts, and he was intercepted four times in the Steelers’ 48-37 loss to Cleveland in the wildcard round.
“We would like to see Ben again for another year if it can work,” Rooney said. “There is a lot of work to be done to see if this can happen.”
The Steelers also have Mason Rudolph, entering his fourth season, on the roster. Rudolph was the substitute last season after making eight starts in 2019 while Roethlisberger missed 14 games with a right elbow injury.
“We have no doubts that he is a quarterback who can play in this league and be a starter in this league,” Rooney said of Rudolph.
The Steelers have also signed a future contract with former Washington first-round pick Dwayne Haskins, but they may not be able to shop in the quarterbacks market. Joshua Dobbs, the No. 3 quarterback last year, is an unrestricted free agent, and Devlin “Duck” Hodges has signed a futures contract with the Los Angeles Rams.
“When you look at our room, we’re obviously going to have to add someone to the room here this offseason,” Rooney said, “so we’re going to look at any opportunities we have to do that.”
Joe Rutter is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Joe by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
Categories:
Sports | Steelers / NFL
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