Can Steelers afford Big Ben?
Tomlin: Standout QB is ‘just the cost of doing business’
Mike Tomlin said the Steelers had a “high level of concern” about Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to come back from major elbow surgery and perform the way he did in 2020, not to mention last an entire season. He used the word “spectacular” to describe what his quarterback accomplished.
But, with any number of questions still remaining about the 2021 salary cap and the implications it will have on the roster, Tomlin said he was not definitively ready to assess what will happen with Roethlisberger next season.
However, he did say, “I think it’s reasonable to assume there’s a chance he will be back, certainly.”
Roethlisberger, who will be 39 next season, has said repeatedly he plans to play out his contract, which expires after the 2021 season. But he is scheduled to count $41.25 million against the salary cap, which represents 23.7% of the total payroll. The amount and percentage are the highest of any quarterback in the league.
That, of course, will affect what players the Steelers are able to resign or possibly even pursue in
free agency, especially with the salary cap expected to be below this year’s total of $198 million. It has already been determined that it won’t be lower than $175 million.
That could put the Steelers in a tough position in 2021 to defend their AFC North title, or even manage to stay ahead of the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns in the division. They have quarterbacks still operating on their rookie contracts, as do the Cincinnati Bengals.
“That’s been life for us for over a decade,” Tomlin said. “Those are things that are part of our business. I know when you’ve got a quality quarterback and you’ve got a guy capable of having you in that [playoff] field, that’s just the cost of doing business.”
Because Roethlisberger is in the final year of his contract, the Steelers do not have any room to restructure his deal. The only way to do that is to do what they did for safety Troy Polamalu in 2014 — give Roethlisberger what is known as a “dummy” contract in which he is extended another couple of years to lessen the cap hit, even if he doesn’t plan on playing past 2021.
The Steelers did that with Polamalu when he was entering the final year of his contract in 2014. They added two more “dummy” years to his deal, effectively making it a new three-year contract, and converted most of the money into a signing bonus that could be pro-rated over the final two years.
Polamalu retired in April 2015 when it became apparent the Steelers were not going to bring him back for the following season, leading to Polamalu’s acrimony toward the organization that existed for years.
Roethlisberger’s situation, though, is not entirely comparable to Polamalu. The Steelers parted ways with their Hall of Fame safety because they knew he lost his speed and couldn’t play anymore. They saw that during his final season.
That is not the case with Roethlisberger. He had a season in which he was considered a legitimate league MVP candidate at one point, in addition to comeback player of the year. He threw 33 touchdowns — one short of his career high — and his interception ratio of 1.6 (10 interceptions on 608 attempts) was tied for third best of his career.
What’s more, his secondhalf performance in the playoff loss to the Browns showed, if nothing else, he can still make any throw against seven and eight defenders in coverage and have great production. It is reasonable to expect him back in 2021.
“I can’t say enough about his performance this year.” Tomlin said. “With the uncertainty coming off his injury and not having an opportunity to perform in preseason games, there was a high level of concern about his health and his ability to perform.
“I was more than pleased with the performance of his health and his ability to stay up. In terms of the quality of his play and our play, we will begin to assess that in the upcoming days. In terms of him being able to face the challenges specifically that he came into the season ready to face — spectacular.”