I made fun of the Orlando Sentinel blogger who suggested that the Steelers should draft Tim Tebow in the first round as a “mentor” to Ben Roethlisberger. It wasn’t a well thought out suggestion, but one point that is worth discussion is where do you drawn the line in regards to off the field problems?

When does the headache become too much? At what point does production on the field fail to override the distraction off of it.

The question many are asking is, is Ben Roethlisberger worth the trouble?

The short answer is yes, and the reason is very clear cut in my opinion. We can only go by the information we have as of today, March 12th, 2010. As of today, he as been accused by two women. One is accusing him of rape in a civil suit and one has accused him of sexual assault in a criminal suit. In both cases the facts are hazy at best. Either Roethlisberger is a sexual predator or he just has bad luck with ladies.

I believe in innocent until proven guilty.

I don’t like Roger Goddell’s policy of punishing players before the legal system has played out. I don’t like that dictatorship attitude in regards to the NFL. I don’t like teams using off the field activities as an excuse to get rid of players. We have a legal system in play for a reason and it is prudent for people to wait until all the facts are laid out before we start kicking players to the curb.

With that being said, based on Goddell’s previous rulings against Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress and Pacman Jones, I would expect Roethlisberger to be suspended immediately if he is charged with sexual assault.

At this present time the only thing Ben Roethlisberger is guilty of, is being an idiot. Alas there are a lot of idiots in the NFL in regards to what goes on off the field, but running an NFL team is not about employing the most outstanding people in the world.

The NFL is filled with bad guys. They might not be criminals, but they aren’t the type of guys if you had a daughter you would want to see at your front door. But if they aren’t convicted of anything criminal and they are productive on the field that is all that really matters. What they do off of it is their own business. Doesn’t matter if it is selling bibles or making it rain at strip clubs.

Super Bowl winning quarterbacks are hard to find. If Roethlisberger was a third string running back he would already be out of the league, but his status as the franchise quarterback gives him a little more rope.

The question it begs is was it enough rope to………………………..you know the rest.