Not time for Steelers to draft Roethlisberger's replacement

Terry Bradshaw turned 32 in 1980, fresh off the Steelers’ fourth Super Bowl victory and his second MVP award of that championship.

He was in his prime and on top of his game as the new decade unfolded. And in that 1980 draft, the Steelers selected a quarterback in the first round, Mark Malone.

Joe Montana, another Hall of Famer and the only other quarterback to go 4-0 in Super Bowls, was 31 when the San Francisco 49ers traded for Steve Young.

Ben Roethlisberger is 34. Is it time for the Steelers to draft his successor?

It says here that it is not and, by all indications, the Steelers have no plans to select a quarterback high in this draft. Circumstances also have changed since Bradshaw and Montana saw their successors drafted while they still were in their early 30s.

The main difference is that free agency took hold after Bradshaw left the game and not until the final years of Montana’s career. Now, a team has control of a first-round pick for only four or five years. If the Steelers were to draft a quarterback with the idea he might some day succeed Roethlisberger, what happens if Roethlisberger played another four or five years, and did so at a high level?

In the free agency era, teams are more apt to wait longer to acquire a quarterback to succeed an excellent long-time starter. Green Bay drafted Aaron Rodgers first in 2005 when Brett Favre was 36. Indianapolis drafted Andrew Luck first in 2012 when Peyton Manning was 36.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...s/201604100188

Not time for Steelers to draft Roethlisberger's replacement — yet