Ben Roethlisberger will likely be back with the Steelers in 2021. At least that's the current plan for the Steelers as they head into what promises to be a highly unstable situation around the NFL with the potential for the salary cap to go down by as much as $15 million this year.
But Steelers president Art Rooney II said Thursday that Roethlisberger expressed a desire to return to the Steelers for what would be a team-record 18th season when he met with head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Kevin Colbert.
Making that occur will be something at which Rooney and Roethlisberger's representatives will have to work hard.
"Ben has been in. I’ve haven't sat down with him myself yet," Rooney said. "He sat down with Coach Tomlin and Kevin and Ben wants to come back. We’ve left that door open. We’ve been up front with Ben in letting him know we couldn’t have him back under the current contract. He understands we have some work to do there. We'll have more conversations. We'll have more conversations internally, and we'll have more conversations with Ben. Obviously, we'll have to know what the cap number is to finalize some of those decisions."
Roethlisberger, who turns 39 this offseason, is scheduled to count $41.25 million against the Steelers salary cap in 2021, the final year of a two-year, $68-million extension he signed in 2019. The Steelers bumped some of his money into this year with a renegotiation last spring, increasing his cap hit by $9.75 million.
But his base salary is just $4 million and he's due a roster bonus of $15 million by March 19, putting a time table on any negotiations that need to take place. Rooney said that while the league hasn't come forth with a hard number on the cap as of yet, he expects that number to be released to teams by mid-February.
Roethlisberger has made it clear on numerous occasions that he would like to play out this contract and perhaps beyond. In fact, according to multiple reports Thursday, he said he doesn't "care about his pay at all" for the 2021 season and agent Ryan Tollner has already contacted the Steelers regarding reworking the quarterback's deal.
The league and NFLPA set a cap floor of $175 million prior to the start of this season. Latest expectations have that figure coming in at just over $180 million. But there is some hope around the league that ownership and the NFLPA can come to an agreement to move that figure even higher.
When the new CBA was signed last February, the cap was set at $198 million this season, with the expectation that it would be $210 million or higher this year. But that was pre-pandemic. With reduced or no fans in stadiums across the NFL this season, the league's revenue stream wasn't as high.
But there is an expectation of increased revenues in future years that could be borrowed from to lessen the blow this year. The Steelers currently have some $215 million in salaries for the 2021 season, meaning if the cap comes in significantly lower than that, the team has a lot of work to do to get in compliance by the start of the new league year in March.
"This will probably be the most difficult salary cap challenge that we’ve had in a long time, maybe ever," Rooney admitted.
That's why Rooney stopped short of saying Roethlisberger would definitely be back in 2021.
Roethlisberger returned from major elbow surgery in 2019 to throw for more than 3,800 yards with 33 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions in 15 games last season as the Steelers won the AFC North with a 12-4 record before being upset by the Browns in the opening round of the playoffs.
Rooney said he has confidence in backup Mason Rudolph as a potential starter moving forward, but also said he wouldn't mind running things back with last year's roster -- with some obvious improvements to the running game.
Despite a strong start to the season running the ball, the Steelers finished dead last in the league on the ground by season's end. That was a reason why offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett were not retained.
"We have to look at having a commitment to the running game and I don’t know that is something we’ve always had," Rooney said.
The obvious feeling is that if Roethlisberger returns with a stronger running game, the Steelers can contend in 2021. But Rooney also knows that because of the cap situation, that's might not be possible.
"I think we’d like to see Ben back for another year if that can work," Rooney said. "There’s a lot of work to be done to see if that can happen."
