Steelers president Art Rooney II had a meeting with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Tuesday and Roethlisberger’s agent said that it ended with the Steelers saying they “want Ben back and will contact me soon to address his cap situation.”
There was no word from the Steelers, but that will reportedly change on Wednesday. Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Rooney will release a statement regarding the quarterback’s future.
Roethlisberger has a $41.25 million cap hit for the 2021 season that has to come down in order for the Steelers to get under the cap by the start of the new league year in March.
The simplest way to do that would be to sign Roethlisberger to an extension with three dummy years that converts most of the $19 million he’s due to make this year into a signing bonus that could be spread into future seasons while reducing this year’s hit to $26.73 million. Another would be for Rothlisberger to take a pay cut and Rooney’s statement could provide some idea about how things will proceed in Pittsburgh for the coming season.
