3 reasons the Steelers may not want Ben Roethlisberger back

Ben may not settle for less money

With Bouchette’s recent comments, it certainly doesn’t sound like Ben Roethlisberger would be willing to play for less money this year, contrary to what the quarterback had previously stated. And it’s really not that hard to see why this is the case. Players taking massive salary cuts is a pretty rare commodity these days, and I can’t imagine Ben’s agent being on board with this – even if Roethlisberger truly wanted to.

If a pay cut is not an option and Ben still doesn’t want to retire, the Steelers could go as far as to bite the bullet and cut him outright. With the salary cap expected to drop to the floor of $176 million for the new league year, Roethlisberger’s cap hit would account for more than 23 percent of the team’s total salary in 2021.

If Ben was still playing at a high level (or even as an above-average quarterback for that matter) perhaps the Steelers could stomach this cap hit and let him ride out the remainder of his contract. However, Art Rooney made it clear that Roethlisberger couldn’t return at his current cap number. Let’s hope the Steelers don’t want to extend him and push more dead money into the future.