Are the Pittsburgh Steelers and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger currently involved in a “really big game of chicken” as was reported on Monday? If so, that game of chicken has now reportedly included a Tuesday meeting with Steelers team president Art Rooney II.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday, Roethlisberger met with Rooney and that meeting “went well.”
So, what does a meeting that “went well” mean? It’s obviously hard to really know for sure but perhaps some real progress is being made that might result in Roethlisberger returning for the 2021 season with a lower cap number.
The Steelers have a little more than three weeks remaining to get salary cap compliant for the start of the 2021 league year on March 17 so a decision on Roethlisberger’s future will need to be made soon and likely within the next two weeks. Roethlisberger is currently scheduled to earn $19 million in 2021 with $15 million of that being due in the form of a roster bonus a few days after the start of the league year.
It will now be interesting to see how quickly things escalate between the Steelers and Roethlisberger from here and more importantly, what the final outcome is. Will the Steelers demand that Roethlisberger take a pay cut in 2021 to stay, or will an extension of some sort that includes voidable years with no new money this season suffice? Time will tell.
