Future of Roethlisberger is hot topic
Former teammates speculate on what’s best for QB, Steelers
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Ben Roethlisberger is the biggest story surrounding the Steelers at the moment. On Thursday, team president Art Rooney II broke down where the team stands: They would like him back at quarterback for an 18th season “if it can work.” Roethlisberger responded in kind, that he doesn’t care about his bloated contract and simply wants to “help the team however I can this year.” His agent chimed in, too, saying “he’ll need the right players around him.”
But plenty are wondering if Roethlisberger is still the right player for the Steelers at the game’s most important position — and not just diehard fans. Any current or former Steelers player who dares to speak publicly about the team at this point is sure to be asked about Roethlisberger’s status, and several have weighed in one way or the other.
“I’m just super thrilled for the guy,” tight end Vance McDonald said last week while announcing his retirement. “I know that he can still play at a high level.”
Of course, as you might expect, not all Steelers alumni are so sure. Ike Taylor, the cornerback who played 11 seasons with Roethlisberger, believes the twotime Super Bowl-winner should retire — “100 percent.”
“One hundred percent,” Taylor emphasized to The P.M. radio team Wednesday on 93.7 The Fan. “Just the mobility part. If you’re looking at the AFC North [Division], the three young quarterbacks, they’re young, they’re mobile and they’ve got playoff experience. You don’t want to set your organization behind three years.”
Taylor explained that his timeline comes from the idea that if Roethlisberger’s successor is a young quarterback, he won’t be ready to outduel Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow right away. He’ll need time to adjust to the NFL, a new offensive coordinator and new personnel.
So, while Taylor would like the Steelers to “blow this whole thing up,” he doesn’t expect that to happen. In the same interview, Taylor predicted that Roethlisberger will play another year, and that the Steelers wouldn’t cut him.
“They’re going to let Ben rock out until he wants to [retire],” Taylor said. “You know the Steelers; they’re loyal.”
Loyalty doesn’t always pay off though, and in 2021, the NFL quarterback landscape is as volatile as ever. Detroit has already decided it will trade Matthew Stafford. Deshaun Watson wants out of Houston. In Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers is blocking a 2020 first-round pick and could be open to moving himself, despite having three years left on his contract.
The carousel will spin, and those outside Steelers headquarters will conjure up all sorts of ideas at quarterback as Roethlisberger nears his 39th birthday. Who’s your dream replacement, and is there a way to make it happen?
“Nobody take this personal that’s listening to this podcast, all right? I have two,” former Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier said Tuesday on The Ringer NFL Show. “I have Aaron Rodgers or Deshaun Watson going to the Steelers. I know that’s too good [to be true] for people. I feel Deshaun would be great because you’d have him for the next 10 years. I feel Aaron would be great for right now. Our defense is right now.”
Shazier added later that he loves Roethlisberger. After six years with the franchise, the recently retired Shazier has offered some keen insights on Roethlisberger in this initial phase of his media career. In November, Shazier shared that he once spoke to Roethlisberger about how he can relate to having so many much younger players in the locker room, and that Roethlisberger admitted it was difficult.
Sure, Roethlisberger jokes about being the old man of the team, but the longer he plays, the fewer familiar faces he has alongside him. Last year it was Ramon Foster who retired in March, and now McDonald is gone and center Maurkice Pouncey is pondering the same. Left tackle Al Villanueva’s contract is ending and right guard David DeCastro might be too expensive to keep. The next longest-tenured players on the offense are JuJu Smith Schuster, James Conner and Matt Feiler, all set to become unrestricted free agents.
“I remember I was talking to Ben one time,” Shazier said earlier this season, “and I was like, ‘Ben, how do you get close to guys?’ He’s like, ‘Man, I’ll be honest, it’s really hard to get close to guys because everybody I came into the league with or I was close to are all gone now. So it’s like I don’t truly have friends on the team like everybody else anymore. A lot of times, people just see me as a mentor, or just the quarterback.’”
In a virtual sit-down with NFL Network this week, outside linebacker Bud Dupree — who likely has played his final game with the Steelers, too — got the question of what his “gut feeling” is on how much longer Roethlisberger will be in Pittsburgh. Dupree’s answer touched on just about everything swirling around No. 7.
“Man, I think Ben’s going to stick around until he personally decides to hang it up,” Dupree said. “He’s one of those franchise
-type quarterbacks and players. He’s embedded in the organization and the city, as well. I feel like he’ll have the deciding factor of if he wants to continue to play or not.
“And I think the older he gets, I see he starts to lose a lot of friends on the team. The older guys coming in and leaving, there’s not many left with him, so it’s always a bummer when you look around and everyone you came in with is gone. He’s the oldest one on the team — kind of like a father figure. He’ll make that last [decision] and when the time comes, we ought to know.”