The established order will stay for the Pittsburgh Steelers on the quarterback place in 2021. Ryan Tollner, Ben Roethlisberger‘s agent, confirmed to Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Community that the membership certainly desires the quarterback again as its starter for subsequent season and the 2 sides are dedicated to bringing down his cap hit to additional put a aggressive membership round him. Tollner added that Roethlisberger was not happy with how Pittsburgh’s season got here to a detailed in 2020, which has lit a hearth underneath the QB as he approaches his age-39 season. 

“They need Ben again and can contact me quickly to handle his cap state of affairs,” Tollner informed Kinkhabwala. “As we have shared for the reason that season ended, we’re comfortable to creatively alter his contract to assist them construct the most effective workforce doable. A yr in the past, Ben wasn’t positive if he may throw once more, however he battled again to get 12 wins and the eighth division title of his profession. They misplaced steam down the stretch and that does not sit nicely for him, so the hearth burns robust and there’s loads of fuel within the tank.” 

The information of Roethlisberger’s return to the Steelers for 2021 comes off the heels of a gathering the quarterback had with workforce president Artwork Rooney II that reportedly went nicely. Roethlisberger’s future in Pittsburgh appeared to be on skinny ice as not too long ago as final week when Steelers GM Kevin Colbert was fairly blunt concerning the veteran’s state of affairs. 

“As we sit right here in the present day, Ben is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Colbert informed reporters on the time. “He reiterated to us that he desires to proceed to play. We informed him we’ve got to have a look at this present state of affairs.”

Rooney additionally admitted to reporters that the membership “could not have him again underneath the present contract.”

To stop a possible divorce, Roethlisberger made it abundantly clear that he would “do all the pieces I can” to get inventive together with his contract to carry that quantity down, which Tollner reiterated on this most up-to-date assertion. 

Whereas Roethlisberger has only a $4 million base wage and a $15 million roster bonus for 2021, the large difficulty is his $41.25 million cap hit. CBS Sports activities’ Joel Corry detailed final month that the explanation Pittsburgh has such a large cap hit for Roethlisberger this coming season is due to a maneuver they made final offseason. At the moment, the membership lowered his 2020 cap hit from $33.5 million to $23.75 million by changing $19.5 million of his $21 million compensation for the 2020 season right into a signing bonus. Due to that transfer, his 2021 cap quantity shot up by $9.75 million. As Tollner famous, the 2 sides will quickly get to work to carry that quantity to a extra palatable spot for Pittsburgh heading into an offseason the place the wage cap is ready to lower from 2020. 

The 2021 season would be the 18th yr of Roethlisberger’s profession. Just like these earlier 17, No. 18 will probably be in a Steelers uniform.