While the news buzzing around the Steelers has focused on the impending trade to move Antonio Brown, and the big names in free agency the Steelers could sign, the most important move this offseason is their extension of Ben Roethlisberger.
Last week I wrote about Roethlisberger's need to mix up his targets among the Steelers' weapons as well as why he received a B-plus grade for the season. While he didn't receive the highest grade among the Steelers, his performance is still the most pivotal to the success of the organization in the coming years.
The natural role of a franchise quarterback can open and close a championship window more quickly than any other player on a team, which is why teams pay exorbitant contracts to even mediocre quarterbacks. The perfect example is Kirk Cousins' fully guaranteed contract that will pay $29 million in 2019 and $31 million in 2020. While Cousins isn't even among the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL, he has the third-highest average salary among quarterbacks because he was signed through the free agent market.
The Steelers haven't had to worry about any arms race for quarterbacks since they drafted Roethlisberger in 2004. Since then, Roethlisberger has demonstrated to have one of the strongest arms in the NFL and has developed within an offensive system to complement his skills as one of the better veterans.
As our own David Golebiewski wrote in yesterday's Stats 'N' At, Roethlisberger's deep passing statistics are well above the league average. Combine that with his control of the Steelers' offense, and he makes for a quick strike threat at any point, opening up opportunities for the rest of the offense.
Take the Steelers' first touchdown against the Panthers. In a primetime game, Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey led the Panthers to a first quarter touchdown. But on the Steelers' first play, Roethlisberger hit JuJu Smith-Schuster on the perfect deep route to beat a Cover-3 defense. Smith-Schuster ran his route directly over James Washington's short hitch route.
The cornerback that was supposed to be in deep thirds coverage froze for just a second and that was enough for Roethlisberger to recognize it and put the perfect ball for Smith-Schuster:
His recognition of defenses isn't the best of quarterbacks in the NFL, but his proficiency there still ranks among the best because of his experience. Combine that with his ability to work after a designed route has finished to extend a play and he shows two skills that led to his 34 touchdown passes, the most of his career.
Most quarterbacks who extend plays get "happy feet" and move unnecessarily about the pocket and miss opportunities. But Roethlisberger has been making these plays his entire career, so he's gotten used to making these adjustments from within the pocket without panicking.
Watch how he never leaves his throwing stance by only using the slightest of footwork within the pocket on his fourth quarter touchdown pass to Vance McDonald. Roethlisberger maneuvers away from Marcel Dareus' pass rush against Ramon Foster and floats the ball to a spot where only McDonald can make the play:
Combined with Randy Fichtner's offense, Roethlisberger's talents become even more important to the Steelers' success. Because of his familiarity with the Steelers' offense, Roethlisberger can rotate through every play's receiving options faster than even above average quarterbacks. That ability allows him to dissect defenses when he finds their weaknesses. An example of that is how he threw a quick pass to Jesse James in the flat against the Panthers for a touchdown:
This helped the Steelers improve to be the league's best red zone offense, scoring a touchdown on 73.14 percent of their red zone possessions. That component improved the efficiency of the Steelers' offense.
As Roethlisberger prepares to enter his 16th season with the Steelers, this will also be his 13th season while Fichtner has been on the coaching staff. Fichtner was also his quarterback coach for eight of those seasons. And with the offense under his command, much of the unit's success depends on how it was designed around Roethlisberger.
Even if Roethlisberger's arm is weakening as he's aged to 37, his familiarity with Fichtner's offense makes him a better option to build around than any gamble in an arms race.
Eventually the Steelers will have to re-enter the chase for a quarterback, but so long as they keep that day at bay with Roethlisberger under contract, their offense will be proficient enough to contend. While Roethlisberger does need to decrease his interception count from a league-leading 16, his contributions far outweigh his mistakes.
The Steelers do have to maximize the return value of their trade of Brown and infuse talent into the roster that will bolster the defense to be more reliable than it has been, but those are all secondary concerns behind the ensuring of Roethlisberger's future with the team.
Should this upcoming extension give the Steelers another two or three years with Roethlisberger, it provides an accurate window for what Kevin Colbert knows he must to do to keep the team afloat.
If properly executed, the Steelers could make the correct investments to bolster the defense with key players in the aftermath of the Brown trade and their largest available cap space for free agents in several years. Doing so would allow Colbert and the organization to be comfortable with their roster enough to eventually make an aggressive move in an NFL draft or free agency to find their next franchise quarterback.
But that all starts with Roethlisberger as the building stone for the success of the offense, and the team.