As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the process of negotiating a contract extension for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. During a Wednesday question and answer session with fans enrolled as Steelers Nation United members, team president Art Rooney II confirmed that contract extension talks with Roethlisberger’s representation are now underway.
“Ben has one more year left on his existing contract and we’ve already started to talking to him and his representative about extending that contract,” Rooney told Steelers fans during Wednesday call. “And so, I think that Ben has some good years left. He’s still, I would say, close to being in the prime of his career and now that we see quarterbacks around the league that are playing into their 40s, I’m not sure why there’s any reason why Ben can’t play for several more years. So, we’re looking forward to that.”
None of what Rooney said on Wednesday should come as a surprise as we’ve been writing about a possible forthcoming contract extension for Roethlisberger for several weeks now. With Roethlisberger being due a $5 million roster bonus just a few days after the start of the 2019 NFL league year in March, having him signed to an extension before then is the likely goal of the Steelers.
Roethlisberger will turn 37 on March 2 and around that time is when he signed his previous contract extensions. In short, it will be surprising if he hasn’t signed a new extension by March 6, a week prior to the new league starting.
As I have previously posted, Roethlisberger’s new contract is likely to average $29 million or more in new money. That extension is also likely to be for four years and thus run through the end of the 2023 season.
