Ben takes pay cut in new deal with Steelers

[Greg S]

Tom Pelissero on Twitter: "#Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger's new contract for 2021 utilizes a signing bonus, minimum base salary and voidable years to free up about $15 million of cap space, per source. Big Ben takes a $5M paycut, from $19M to $14M, giving the team much-needed breathing room." / Twitter

[BuffaloBills1998]

They’re going to be in some trouble when Ben retires. He’s been a shell of his former self for last couple years now and the team is fading around him, no o line no running game and no number 1 WR. 

[LABILLBACKER]

The Steelers are basically the Patriots.  They're irrelevant without a qb.

[Royale with Cheese]

Are you hearing this Joshua Patrick Allen?  How about $1 million a year from the Bills and Nike pays you $39 million a year?

[RichRiderBills]

Would not have gone in this direction myself. Steelers are super loyal to QBs , great....enjoy the celler . 

[SoCal Deek]

It feels to me like the Steelers have been winning in spite of, not because of, Big Ben for a while now.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

You all are too hard on Ben. Their OC was horrible— just a bad internal

hire who has now been let go. And their line was old and terrible.
 

Ben doesn’t have the huge arm and mobility anymore— but he has a big enough arm to make all the throws he needs to. The Steelers-Colts game late last year was clear evidence of that. When he started calling his own plays in that game, the offense looked a lot better. 
 

I think this was the smart move to sign him back. Gives them time to find a successor, and I would expect them to be in the fight for a playoff spot with Ben, a better oline, a better OC, and a top-5 defense.

[thenorthremembers]

3 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

You all are too hard on Ben. Their OC was horrible— just a bad internal

hire who has now been let go. And their line was old and terrible.
 

Ben doesn’t have the huge arm and mobility anymore— but he has a big enough arm to make all the throws he needs to. The Steelers-Colts game late last year was clear evidence of that. When he started calling his own plays in that game, the offense looked a lot better. 
 

I think this was the smart move to sign him back. Gives them time to find a successor, and I would expect them to be in the fight for a playoff spot with Ben, a better oline, a better OC, and a top-5 defense.

I agree.   Who else were they going to get?  You saw what they looked like with Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges.   You dont get rid of a guy who throws 33 touchdowns to 10 ints unless you have another guy who can do that, and only 7 other QBs in the entire NFL did that last year.   Ben isn't 2014 Ben anymore, but he still gives them a better shot at getting the the playoffs than anyone else on the free agency market or anyone they are going to be able to draft at  24.

[Greg S]

1 minute ago, thenorthremembers said:

I agree.   Who else were they going to get?  You saw what they looked like with Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges.   You dont get rid of a guy who throws 33 touchdowns to 10 ints unless you have another guy who can do that, and only 7 other QBs in the entire NFL did that last year.   Ben isn't 2014 Ben anymore, but he still gives them a better shot at getting the the playoffs than anyone else on the free agency market or anyone they are going to be able to draft at  24.

 

If the Jets move on from Darnold then I could see Pitt being one of the teams interested. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Just now, Greg S said:

 

If the Jets move on from Darnold then I could see Pitt being one of the teams interested. 

Would the jets take a late 1st rounder for Darnold? I suspect that is all that the Steelers could offer. 

[RichRiderBills]

16 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

You all are too hard on Ben. Their OC was horrible— just a bad internal

hire who has now been let go. And their line was old and terrible.
 

Ben doesn’t have the huge arm and mobility anymore— but he has a big enough arm to make all the throws he needs to. The Steelers-Colts game late last year was clear evidence of that. When he started calling his own plays in that game, the offense looked a lot better. 
 

I think this was the smart move to sign him back. Gives them time to find a successor, and I would expect them to be in the fight for a playoff spot with Ben, a better oline, a better OC, and a top-5 defense.

 

But the reality is the oline is in shambles and is a muliti year rebuild. The RBs are lousy and they are potentially losing Dupree.

[Greg S]

2 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Would the jets take a late 1st rounder for Darnold? I suspect that is all that the Steelers could offer. 

 

Definitely. IMHO.

[MasterStrategist]

14 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

You all are too hard on Ben. Their OC was horrible— just a bad internal

hire who has now been let go. And their line was old and terrible.
 

Ben doesn’t have the huge arm and mobility anymore— but he has a big enough arm to make all the throws he needs to. The Steelers-Colts game late last year was clear evidence of that. When he started calling his own plays in that game, the offense looked a lot better. 
 

I think this was the smart move to sign him back. Gives them time to find a successor, and I would expect them to be in the fight for a playoff spot with Ben, a better oline, a better OC, and a top-5 defense.

1. they didn't "sign him back", just changed some financial obligations

2. basically steelers got themselves into this ugly deal, so best they could do was create a fake 4yr voidable extension, convert salary to signing bonus, and spread that cap.  On top of this, Ben takes a $5m pay cut

 

 

So all in all, Steelers continue to kick the can.  They will "void" his contract next yr, and have a $10m dead cap hit.

 

Not much else Steelers could do.  Although Mason showed up well in that last game against Cleveland, he's not the future.  

 

I also.dont think Steelers are fixing all their offensive issues in 1 offseason, given they are already in cap hell.  Pouncey retired, Villenueva is a FA, as well others.  

 

I will give you better o-coordinator, but that defense will likely regress without Dupree (either gone in FA, or not fully healed)

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

How long has it been since NFL announcers were able to talk about 'The Over the Hill Gang'? 🤔

[Malazan]

51 minutes ago, RichRiderBills said:

Would not have gone in this direction myself. Steelers are super loyal to QBs , great....enjoy the celler . 

 

While I agree with you that they will struggle with him at QB... they're going to struggle without him and he will be a great filler QB for whomever they bring in to replace

[Hapless Bills Fan]

49 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

I agree.   Who else were they going to get? 

 

Welllllllllll.... I don't know if I should mention this, but Pittsburgh did sign Dwayne Haskins....

 

14 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

He appears to be disinterested, when you look for any emotion on his face, as if he has 'already left the building'. 

That being said, he threw for 505 yards, in that playoff loss.

 

He looked as though he was going to cry at the end of that game. 

 

I don't think it's a useful thing to feel that if a vet QB doesn't show emotion publicly on his face, he doesn't have any or he's disinterested.

[IgotBILLStopay]

14 mill is still above expectation. I thought he would come in around 10 mill given no other team wants him.

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

You all are too hard on Ben. Their OC was horrible— just a bad internal

hire who has now been let go. And their line was old and terrible.
 

Ben doesn’t have the huge arm and mobility anymore— but he has a big enough arm to make all the throws he needs to. The Steelers-Colts game late last year was clear evidence of that. When he started calling his own plays in that game, the offense looked a lot better. 
 

I think this was the smart move to sign him back. Gives them time to find a successor, and I would expect them to be in the fight for a playoff spot with Ben, a better oline, a better OC, and a top-5 defense.

I agree, too.  Everyone undervalues brains and experience.  Look at what Rivers did last season.  Brissett couldn't do that, and Rivers arm is no better than Brissett's.  And Brissett is much more mobile.  But Rivers, like Ben, thinks about the game at a very high level. 

 

Good move by Steelers while they try to figure out who's next. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

20 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I agree, too.  Everyone undervalues brains and experience.  Look at what Rivers did last season.  Brissett couldn't do that, and Rivers arm is no better than Brissett's.  And Brissett is much more mobile.  But Rivers, like Ben, thinks about the game at a very high level. 

 

Good move by Steelers while they try to figure out who's next. 

 

Brains are fine, but body is needed too.

 

By the end of the season, Big Ben's brain was writing checks his arm talent couldn't cash for him

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

1 hour ago, MasterStrategist said:

1. they didn't "sign him back", just changed some financial obligations

2. basically steelers got themselves into this ugly deal, so best they could do was create a fake 4yr voidable extension, convert salary to signing bonus, and spread that cap.  On top of this, Ben takes a $5m pay cut

 

 

So all in all, Steelers continue to kick the can.  They will "void" his contract next yr, and have a $10m dead cap hit.

 

Not much else Steelers could do.  Although Mason showed up well in that last game against Cleveland, he's not the future.  

 

I also.dont think Steelers are fixing all their offensive issues in 1 offseason, given they are already in cap hell.  Pouncey retired, Villenueva is a FA, as well others.  

 

I will give you better o-coordinator, but that defense will likely regress without Dupree (either gone in FA, or not fully healed)

How do you know Rudolph isn’t the answer? He’s got a big arm, good size, and played pretty well for a rookie. I wouldn’t count him out...yet.

[JMF2006]

54 minutes ago, IgotBILLStopay said:

14 mill is still above expectation. I thought he would come in around 10 mill given no other team wants him.

 

They couldn't cut him the cap hit was huge.

 

He had to come back or screw the team.

[HOUSE]

The guy runs like Oprah Winfrey

[without a drought]

14 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

The guy runs like Oprah Winfrey

I never noticed he was that fast.

[US Egg]

It's the best option they have for 2021.

 

Tomlin can breathe easy, until October.

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

It feels to me like the Steelers have been winning in spite of, not because of, Big Ben for a while now.

 

It may feel like a while but it really isn't. It was true in 2020. He missed most of 2019. But in 2018 he had career highs in yards and touchdowns. Pittsburgh are one of those teams who just when they seem to get the D right the O goes off and vice versa. Ben is done, he should retire, but it is only a couple of years ago this was still the Big Ben show.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Might as well, his play has gone down, better than getting cut.

 

 

[Punching Bag]

2 hours ago, Greg S said:

Tom Pelissero on Twitter: "#Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger's new contract for 2021 utilizes a signing bonus, minimum base salary and voidable years to free up about $15 million of cap space, per source. Big Ben takes a $5M paycut, from $19M to $14M, giving the team much-needed breathing room." / Twitter

 

2 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Are you hearing this Joshua Patrick Allen?  How about $1 million a year from the Bills and Nike pays you $39 million a year?

 

Cheese does have a point if applied to Ben - hard to get endorsements when you are not playing. 

 

Ben does get endorsements, right?  I thought AARP commercial with him in it.  Emergency medical care should be a natural endorsement for him too.

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Brains are fine, but body is needed too.

 

By the end of the season, Big Ben's brain was writing checks his arm talent couldn't cash for him

Oh, I think his body could deliver.   I think his offense was a broken down mess, one dimensional and predictable.  I don't Ben was physically worse than Rivers.   Rivers couldn't throw worth a darn, and he's never been mobile.   But he had a creative offensive coach, and he was fine. 

[MasterStrategist]

1 hour ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

How do you know Rudolph isn’t the answer? He’s got a big arm, good size, and played pretty well for a rookie. I wouldn’t count him out...yet.

Just my opinion, but he doesn't have a big arm.  And despite good size, comes across as soft.

 

Maybe Steelers see something, like you. Mason is on his last year too, so should be intersting how they handle

[Mango]

3 hours ago, BuffaloBills1998 said:

They’re going to be in some trouble when Ben retires. He’s been a shell of his former self for last couple years now and the team is fading around him, no o line no running game and no number 1 WR. 

 

The lack of respect for Dwayne Haskins is down right disrespectful. 😂

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

Might as well, his play has gone down, better than getting cut.

 

 

 

Am I the only one who has a hard time evaluating his play fairly? He’s not what he used to be, but I’m glad to see his play on the field decline because of his “stuff” off the field. I may be blinded by my dislike of some of the reports and allegations about him. Did I mention I’m not a jersey guy? 

[RichRiderBills]

32 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

The lack of respect for Dwayne Haskins is down right disrespectful. 😂

 

I'm not even kidding when I say I do think Mason Rudolph has potential. 

[whatdrought]

Good news for the rest of the AFC.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

1 hour ago, RichRiderBills said:

 

I'm not even kidding when I say I do think Mason Rudolph has potential. 

me too although getting beat with your own helmet isn’t a good look

[y2zipper]

I think roethlisberger was tremendous last year given the serious deficiencies that Pittsburgh had as an offense. With any given team that's really good, there's a period where they're playing at their best and there's a period where they look like they stink and there's a lot of in between as a season goes. the similarity here in Buffalo is that we knew all year that the team was a one-dimensional offense with Josh Allen throwing to the receivers and that train was going to be ridden until the wheels fell off. Buffalo stunk against Kansas City and Tennessee early in the season, looked like the best team in the league for the month of December, then caught some bad injury breaks at the wide receiver position going into the playoffs and won two games anyway.

 

Pittsburgh kind of went through the same thing, but caught their slump at exactly the wrong time at the end of the year. the only thing they really had offensively was been roethlisberger throwing quick passes to wide receivers who weren't very good because their personnel is limited. Then roethlisberger was 3rd and attempts and completed 66% of his passes and through pics less than 2% of the time on a team that couldn't really pass block and couldn't really run the ball.

 

the Big Ben is way closer to the end than he is to the beginning and nobody's going to dispute that, but we know that the answer in Pittsburgh isn't on the roster right now and there isn't really a market otherwise unless they want to trade for Sam darnold or something.

[BillsShredder83]

8 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Would the jets take a late 1st rounder for Darnold? I suspect that is all that the Steelers could offer. 

Is Darnold realistically fetching a first?  Im really not being a jerk, but Id be on the fence about a 4th for him.  Hes mentally shook, Jets really screwed him up

[machine gun kelly]

He’s been declining for a few years.  He made a smart decision taking less to hold on, and the Steelers know they don’t have another option.  The team is going down.  I have nothing against the Steelers, even rooted for them against the Pats when we stunk, but they just have too many holes.

 

Its taken long enough, but the Bills are on the rise, the Chiefs, the Colts, the Ravens, even the Chargers might be emerging in the coming years.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

30 minutes ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Is Darnold realistically fetching a first?  Im really not being a jerk, but Id be on the fence about a 4th for him.  Hes mentally shook, Jets really screwed him up

I honestly have no idea what his value is. In my mind, he’s worth more than wentz, but I don’t know how teams are valuing him at this point. 

[Thurman#1]

6 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Oh, I think his body could deliver.   I think his offense was a broken down mess, one dimensional and predictable.  I don't Ben was physically worse than Rivers.   Rivers couldn't throw worth a darn, and he's never been mobile.   But he had a creative offensive coach, and he was fine. 

 

 

I guardedly agree that he could still throw. It's hard to be sure, but it looked that way.

 

But IMO it was less that Rivers was coached all that much better and more that the Indy OL was very good and the Pittsburgh OL was very bad. Ben had to get rid of the ball very fast on nearly every play, and that did get predictable and thus easy to take advantage of.

[Shaw66]

7 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

I guardedly agree that he could still throw. It's hard to be sure, but it looked that way.

 

But IMO it was less that Rivers was coached all that much better and more that the Indy OL was very good and the Pittsburgh OL was very bad. Ben had to get rid of the ball very fast on nearly every play, and that did get predictable and thus easy to take advantage of.

Fair enough; I can't say I studied either team closely.   But the point is still the same:  although Ben is at the end of his career, the Steelers' problems last year weren't primarily Ben.  With the right surrounding cast, Ben would have been fine.   

 

As someone pointed out, the Steelers' problem is the same as the Patriots' problem:  an aging, under-talented and a HOF QB about to disappear, albeit for different reasons.