One reason Steelers fans shouldn’t want Big Ben to retire after the season

The Steelers may be in a bind if Ben Roethlisberger decides to hang up his cleats after the 2021 season

So, let me say this before we begin our discussion:  I personally do not want to see our franchise and future Hall of Fame QB retire after the 2021 season.  Frankly, I hope that Ben Roethlisberger plays another year, at the very least, despite rumors to the contrary.

The reality is this:  The time is quickly approaching that the Steelers and fans of the Steelers will have to come to grips with the fact that ‘Big Ben’ will retire, but we should not want that time to come following the end of the 2021 season.

The one simple reason that we should not want ‘Big Ben’ to retire after the 2021 season is that our next franchise QB is not currently on the roster and may not be on the roster until the 2023 draft. No disrespect intended toward Mason Rudolph, who would be in line to start in 2022 if ‘Big Ben’ does in fact retire.

When I was watching the game against the Ravens on Sunday and watching how ‘Big Ben’ orchestrated the offense and how he continually brought us back from a deficit, I could not help but think this:  Would Rudolph have been able to replicate the manner in which ‘Big Ben” played?

Honestly, I’m not sure he would have been able to lead us to victory.  Again, no disrespect intended.  I think Rudolph is a very good QB, but he is a very good backup QB, who could become a good starting QB; however, the Steelers can’t ‘roll’ with a good starting QB, we need a franchise-caliber starting QB.

The Steelers should want ‘Big Ben’ to play as long as he wants to play

For those of you who did not live through the twenty years of mediocre QB play that ensued after the retirement of Terry Bradshaw to the arrival of ‘Big Ben’ consider yourself fortunate.  Those were some extremely trying years.

Some of those QBs simply did not have the luxury of having the caliber of defense we currently have; Some of the QBs simply did not have the luxury of having the caliber of skill players on offense that we currently have and some of those QBs were simply not very consistent.

It was a ‘roller coaster’ ride of a good game followed by a bad game followed by a good game and so forth and so on.  The Steelers spent draft capital on QBs trying to fill the void left after Bradshaw retired.  It was until we drafted ‘Big Ben’ that the void was filled.

Speaking of the draft, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Steelers may be in the market for a QB, regardless of what ‘Big Ben’ decides to do after the season.  To that point, I will only say this:  Steelers fans should want us to have the thirty-second pick in the 2022 NFL draft.

What that means is that we won the Super Bowl and all was right in the world.  If we don’t win the Super Bowl, we should want nothing less than the thirty-first pick.  It may be more realistic to say that the Steelers may be picking in the top twenty-five.

If that’s the case, do we really want to trade up to get Kenny Pickett or Matt Corral, for example, or do we wait until the 2023 draft to select Phil Jurkovec, who will return for his senior season?  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to draft either Pickett or Corral or Carson Strong, for that matter, but I am loath to think that we would have to mortgage the future to save the present.

I think the point here is this:  ‘Big Ben’ has earned the right to go out on his terms and to play as long as he wants to play and Steelers fans should want nothing less.