4 reasons why Steelers quarterback situation is the worst in the NFL

The Steelers quarterback room seems like a nightmare right now. Here are four reasons why their current situation is the worst in the NFL. 

When it comes to Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers fans couldn’t be more split down the middle on what they want Pittsburgh to do at quarterback this year. Many fans want Big Ben to play one final season in hopes of getting into playoff contention one last time before a rebuild, while others believe that he is incapable of winning a Super Bowl at this point in his career and are ready to hit the reset button and move on.

Recently, Pro Football Focus posted an article ranking all 32 teams in terms of their quarterback situation heading into the 2021 season. The Steelers were dead last, and it’s really not all that hard to see why. Though PFF touched on a few reasons in their article, allow me to expand on why I agree with them. Here are four reasons why the Steelers quarterback situation is the worst in the NFL:

Elite pay for average production

Unlike most of the other teams on this list who also have terrible quarterback situations heading into the 2021 season, the Steelers are in one of the biggest pickles financially. As you are probably well aware at this point, Ben Roethlisberger has a 2021 cap number of $41.25 million – the largest of any player in the NFL. Unfortunately, he proved to be worth only a fraction of this based on his play this past season.

The sad part is that there isn’t much Pittsburgh can do about it. Unless they want to try to give him a very short extension and push money into the future (which would be a terrible decision, by the way), the Steelers are going to be locked into this number in 2021. The best option (other than Ben retiring on his own terms) is to cut him outright. Though Steelers would take a $22.25 million cap hit this year, his contract numbers would be completely off the books by 2022.