4 notable Steelers likely playing their final year in 2021

While each of these Steelers are great players, the writing is on the wall for them, and 2021 is likely their last ride with the team.

The Steelers are gearing up for, seemingly, one last push at a Super Bowl this season. Despite the losses suffered to the team during the offseason, there is still hope that this group can find some success in 2021. Looking further ahead to 2022 though, it appears as though this team will be set up to transition to the next phase as a lot of core veterans end up leaving. Here are the four most notable Steelers likely in their final year with the team.

Steelers Ben Roethlisberger

This one is about as set in stone as you can get. The Steelers opted to keep Ben Roethlisberger around for one final season by handing him a deal with voidable years to lower his cap hit. While that didn’t guarantee 2021 will be it for him, the contract extension for Mason Rudolph may have. It makes little sense for the team to re-sign Rudolph this early on unless they are expecting him to start and for Roethlisberger to retire.

Unless Roethlisberger really lights it up this season and has no issue going one more year, expect 2021 to be it for in. While he has seemingly been mulling retirement for about five years now, it is hard to imagine him playing past this year. The Steelers have set themselves up for life after him in 2022, and him staying around would only delay the inevitable. Roethlisberger gets one final chance this season to build on his hall of fame career before the reigns get handed over to Rudolph next season.