It’s the offseason and Pittsburgh Steelers-wise, we’re sitting in a dead period of news. Once free agency kicks off, things will be much more active, even if the Steelers aren’t big players. So for now, we’ll go with some lighter information that hopefully produces a healthy conversation.
Bleacher Report is working on their annual NFL 1000 series, ranking the top 1000 players in the league, position-by-position, led by Matt Miller, their NFL Draft top dog. The series ranked the top 50 quarterbacks and Ben Roethlisberger finished fifth with a score – taken into account accuracy, arm strength, decision-making, mechanics, and positional value – of 93/100.
He received a 36/40 in accuracy, Miller stating, “he throws as pretty a deep ball as anyone in the league, setting up his speedy pass-catchers to make big plays.”
He said similar regarding his arm strength.
“Arm strength isn’t everything, but when combined with the rest of what Big Ben brings to the table, it makes him one of the league’s prototypical throwers.”
On the few negatives pointed out, Miller wrote that Roethlisberger can “overstride” sometimes on his base. Overall, the report is fairly accurate though I wouldn’t praise his deep ball as much as Miller does and would point out that his deep ball can sometimes hang in the air too long. Calling it as good as anyone in the league sounds a little strong.
Cam Newton, Carson Palmer, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady finished ahead of Roethlisberger with Brady finishing with a 97/100. If you’re curious, the Buffalo Bills’ E.J. Manuel finished last on the list, with a 62/100.
Two other Steelers’ quarterbacks made the list. Mike Vick finished 43rd, predictably praised for his arm but knocked for accuracy and decision making while Landry Jones came in 31st with a score of 73. That was actually one spot ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Sam Bradford.
