After setting career highs in multiple passing categories and almost throwing for 5,000 yards, Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers are working on a new contract.
Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers have begun preliminary negotiations on a new contract.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert acknowledged the contract talks Tuesday, saying that Roethlisberger still has growth potential even though the star quarterback turns 33 in less than a month.
Roethlisberger, who became the first player in Steelers franchise history to win a league passing title this past season, is entering the final year of an eight-year, $102 million deal he signed in 2008.
“I really think Ben is going to be a better quarterback down the road than he is at this point,” Colbert said Tuesday. “Ben is a franchise quarterback that’s getting better with age.”
Colbert said the Steelers have no concerns about getting a new deal done with Roethlisberger, who established career highs last season in passing yards (4,952), completions (408) and completion rate (67.1 percent) in a season.
“When you have two parties that want to achieve the same goal, it is about working out the details,” Colbert said. “It could happen quickly. It could take awhile.”
Roethlisberger has said he wants to play his entire career with the Steelers, and three of his four 4,000-yard passing seasons have come since he turned 29.
The Steelers should be able to lower Roethlisberger’s salary-cap hit of $18.395 million in 2015 by signing the 11th-year veteran to a long-term contract. But Colbert said the Steelers have not set any deadlines as far as getting a deal done, even though free agency starts on March 10.
The Steelers are $2.734 million under the projected salary cap of $140 million for 2015, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Big Ben had himself quite a year in 2014 and he can attribute that to monster performances by guys like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. With playmakers around him, I don’t expect Ben to be going anywhere any time soon, and wouldn’t be surprised if he finished his career as a Steeler.