Steelers Expected To Restructure/Extend Ben's Deal By Early March

[AtlantaDan]

A nugget from Adam Schefter

Should Pittsburgh decide to trade Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown this offseason, a restructured deal with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could provide the necessary salary-cap room to carry the $21.25 million in dead money.

The team is expected to restructure and extend the veteran quarterback's deal before the new league year begins March 13, according to league sources

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...lisberger-deal

No surprise Ben is getting a contract extension. But getting the deal done before free agency and when AB might be moved in order to avoid paying AB's roster bonus is noteworthy.

[BlackAndGold]

Great news.

[vasteeler]

Great news.

Agreed, not everyone around here will though. Shame.

[Shoes]

If it helps get rid of Brown, go for it.

[zulater]

If it helps get rid of Brown, go for it.

It might. This was going to happen either way though.

[Shoes]

It might. This was going to happen either way though.

agreed

[steelreserve]

I still don't see the urgency to trade Brown. So there was some dumb argument at the end of the season, whatever.

Not to mention, trading/releasing players for insubordination is giving them exactly what they want. "Hey, want to ignore your contract AND THE HUGE SIGNING BONUS(ES) WE ALREADY PAID YOU and go to a different team? Sure, here's the blueprint, just throw a fit and walk out once. You can have whatever you want and we'll just screw ourselves over from a salary cap and compensation standpoint, because of some unwritten code of honor about football team pride."

Like - no. Get your shit together and play, or get suspended THEN traded when it costs us less cap space. A $2.5 million roster bonus is about as close to completely irrelevant to this situation as anything could possibly be. Sweating over pennies while deciding whether to sell your house or not. Get the fuck out of here with that, it's not urgent at all, and if we think so, all that will result in is us getting a BAD DEAL.

[Mojouw]

I still don't see the urgency to trade Brown. So there was some dumb argument at the end of the season, whatever.

Not to mention, trading/releasing players for insubordination is giving them exactly what they want. "Hey, want to ignore your contract AND THE HUGE SIGNING BONUS(ES) WE ALREADY PAID YOU and go to a different team? Sure, here's the blueprint, just throw a fit and walk out once. You can have whatever you want and we'll just screw ourselves over from a salary cap and compensation standpoint, because of some unwritten code of honor about football team pride."

Like - no. Get your shit together and play, or get suspended THEN traded when it costs us less cap space. A $2.5 million roster bonus is about as close to completely irrelevant to this situation as anything could possibly be. Sweating over pennies while deciding whether to sell your house or not. Get the fuck out of here with that, it's not urgent at all, and if we think so, all that will result in is us getting a BAD DEAL.

I don’t know what to do. We are in total agreement for once!

Great take.

[AtlantaDan]

I still don't see the urgency to trade Brown. So there was some dumb argument at the end of the season, whatever.

Not to mention, trading/releasing players for insubordination is giving them exactly what they want. "Hey, want to ignore your contract AND THE HUGE SIGNING BONUS(ES) WE ALREADY PAID YOU and go to a different team? Sure, here's the blueprint, just throw a fit and walk out once. You can have whatever you want and we'll just screw ourselves over from a salary cap and compensation standpoint, because of some unwritten code of honor about football team pride."

Like - no. Get your shit together and play, or get suspended THEN traded when it costs us less cap space. A $2.5 million roster bonus is about as close to completely irrelevant to this situation as anything could possibly be. Sweating over pennies while deciding whether to sell your house or not. Get the fuck out of here with that, it's not urgent at all, and if we think so, all that will result in is us getting a BAD DEAL.

Not saying he definitely should go

But if he is going to get traded this season might as well save the $2.5 million and get whatever draft picks you can for him for the 2019 draft

Suspending and then trading him next September leaves a hole on the roster for 2019.

Or the Steelers can decide not to trade him when he refuses to report in order not to reward AB until he comes to his senses and reports. Assuming a player will have to come in eventually worked brilliantly with Bell so why not repeat that process?

[Mojouw]

Returning to the main topic for this thread, I don’t think a Roethlisberger extension in early March means anything one way or another for the AB situation.

Almost all other Ben extensions have happened around then on calendar, I think. Also, 20 million in cap room is far from enough this off season for the needed roster improvements. Easiest place to get cap cash is the QB.

Ben said he’d do whatever to win. Contract details will demonstrate if that is just talk.

[st33lersguy]

I know this is going to be unpopular especially to some people who don't like any criticism of Ben. While I do appreciate that he is the main reason this team has 6 Super Bowl wins instead of 4, at this point I would just let him play out his contract then not have him return. Ben has played an instrumental role in the toxic locker room culture that has been created. His antics of blaming everyone else for his issues are un-leader like and I wonder how much Ben is playing a role in his spats with AB. Plus the guy is on decline. His bad games were more numerous and he led the NFL with 16 INTs and had 7 fumbles to boot, (2 of which were lost). At this point by, 2020, he will be what Peyton Manning was in 2015.

[BlackAndGold]

Agreed this has nothing to do with AB, this is rewarding the franchise QB with a contract.

The interceptions numbers need to drop and needs to work on his slow starts but he's still has 2-3 years of high level play left.

[zulater]

I know this is going to be unpopular especially to some people who don't like any criticism of Ben. While I do appreciate that he is the main reason this team has 6 Super Bowl wins instead of 4, at this point I would just let him play out his contract then not have him return. Ben has played an instrumental role in the toxic locker room culture that has been created. His antics of blaming everyone else for his issues are un-leader like and I wonder how much Ben is playing a role in his spats with AB. Plus the guy is on decline. His bad games were more numerous and he led the NFL with 16 INTs and had 7 fumbles to boot, (2 of which were lost). At this point by, 2020, he will be what Peyton Manning was in 2015.

Yeah well Broncos won a SB in 2015 and haven't done since shit. Also Peyton had major medical issues that hindered his play. Ben is healthy as far as I know.

As far as blaming Ben for toxic locker room. To a man at this point last year virtually everyone on that team and everyone that reported on it said it was a tight group.

Since then got rid of Martavis. If you think Ben was responsible for his issues you're a loon.

Lev Bell. Think that's between him the team and the current CBA. He misled numerous teammates and reporters about his intentions this season. I'm not sure he ever had a plan. I also wouldn't be surprised if he changed his mind about reporting at the bye because he was hanging with rappers and couldn't pass a pee test at that point. Regardless in the end Bell decided that protecting himself for 19 was more important than being a 2018 Steeler.

AB. Guy drives 100 mph on McKnight road. If you were familiar with Pgh you would know this is borderline insane and put him and others at great risk. I don't care what time it was that road isn't meant to be drove over 45. Guy also throws furniture off an 18th floor balcony in a fit of rage indifferent to who or what may lying below. Comes to camp in a helicopter. Throws gatorade coolers on the sideline because he's not getting the ball in a game we're winning. Shows up late to meetings and walk throughs. Blows off Monday meeting because he's mad at the OC.

Yeah that pretty much all falls on Ben.

Where else are the problems personality wise? Not a wide spread thing. Just a druggie, a guy who is planning his 2019 free agency, and a diva. The rest of the team are pretty much solid through and through.

[vasteeler]

I know this is going to be unpopular especially to some people who don't like any criticism of Ben. While I do appreciate that he is the main reason this team has 6 Super Bowl wins instead of 4, at this point I would just let him play out his contract then not have him return. Ben has played an instrumental role in the toxic locker room culture that has been created. His antics of blaming everyone else for his issues are un-leader like and I wonder how much Ben is playing a role in his spats with AB. Plus the guy is on decline. His bad games were more numerous and he led the NFL with 16 INTs and had 7 fumbles to boot, (2 of which were lost). At this point by, 2020, he will be what Peyton Manning was in 2015.

Yep...unpopular indeed. Ben is the last of our problems right now. Probably the main reason we won as many games as we did. I don't know but I highly doubt he is responsible for any locker room turmoil. As far as blaming, Ben is the first one to take blame. We've seen it time and time again.

[steelreserve]

Not saying he definitely should go

But if he is going to get traded this season might as well save the $2.5 million and get whatever draft picks you can for him for the 2019 draft

Suspending and then trading him next September leaves a hole on the roster for 2019.

Or the Steelers can decide not to trade him when he refuses to report in order not to reward AB until he comes to his senses and reports. Assuming a player will have to come in eventually worked brilliantly with Bell so why not repeat that process?

I think that if we are going to trade him, forcing it into that 5-day window between the league year and the roster bonus is how you get a shitty deal. You know how you see teams get two first-round draft picks for a superstar player, but others dump them for a ridiculously low draft pick because their hand is forced? Well, that's how you do it.

I really don't see Brown being as stupid as Bell and sitting out the season over ... whatever this is. He appears smart enough to know better, and also seems like he cares about winning, personal stats and fame, etc., and that at the end of the day, you don't get any of those unless you are playing. He'll be back in Week 1 unless we are incredibly stupid about it. And I also think that if we give him the roster bonus and wait a few days, we will get a better trade deal, because other teams won't be giving us fire-sale offers. We will get a $2.5 million better trade offer, probably several times that actually, if we do not back ourselves into a self-imposed corner.

Returning to the main topic for this thread, I don’t think a Roethlisberger extension in early March means anything one way or another for the AB situation.

Almost all other Ben extensions have happened around then on calendar, I think. Also, 20 million in cap room is far from enough this off season for the needed roster improvements. Easiest place to get cap cash is the QB.

Ben said he’d do whatever to win. Contract details will demonstrate if that is just talk.

It is pretty much standard practice to restructure every big-money contract we have in order to get more cap space. I don't see that as anything but a vote of confidence that Ben will play out his contract. The interesting part will be whether it's a restructure or an extension, and if so how much the extra years are worth. That could say a lot not only about Ben's longevity, but about what we think of Rudolph as a potential heir to the position. Hard to say what we have right now, but if he is indeed the guy, it would be nice if we had a clear transition instead of a messy one. We probably do not get to choose that, though.

[pczach]

I still don't see the urgency to trade Brown. So there was some dumb argument at the end of the season, whatever.

Not to mention, trading/releasing players for insubordination is giving them exactly what they want. "Hey, want to ignore your contract AND THE HUGE SIGNING BONUS(ES) WE ALREADY PAID YOU and go to a different team? Sure, here's the blueprint, just throw a fit and walk out once. You can have whatever you want and we'll just screw ourselves over from a salary cap and compensation standpoint, because of some unwritten code of honor about football team pride."

Like - no. Get your shit together and play, or get suspended THEN traded when it costs us less cap space. A $2.5 million roster bonus is about as close to completely irrelevant to this situation as anything could possibly be. Sweating over pennies while deciding whether to sell your house or not. Get the fuck out of here with that, it's not urgent at all, and if we think so, all that will result in is us getting a BAD DEAL.

I agree. I don't know why the team would do anything quickly unless they picked up the phone and were offered some huge deal that they couldn't say no to.

Give the situation a chance to diffuse itself and let cooler heads prevail if it is possible. I'm sure there are some really pissed off people in the organization about how little respect he showed to anyone that was even trying to contact him and some of the divisive stuff we're hearing about.

I'd like to think that there's a chance AB might decide this is exactly where he needs to be, and that the team may feel that way after some time passes and they can come to a mutual understanding.

I'm OK with moving him, but only if it helps the team and they get good value for him. If they just move him with the first offer they get and don't get adequate compensation, they're fools.

- - - Updated - - -

I know this is going to be unpopular especially to some people who don't like any criticism of Ben. While I do appreciate that he is the main reason this team has 6 Super Bowl wins instead of 4, at this point I would just let him play out his contract then not have him return. Ben has played an instrumental role in the toxic locker room culture that has been created. His antics of blaming everyone else for his issues are un-leader like and I wonder how much Ben is playing a role in his spats with AB. Plus the guy is on decline. His bad games were more numerous and he led the NFL with 16 INTs and had 7 fumbles to boot, (2 of which were lost). At this point by, 2020, he will be what Peyton Manning was in 2015.

While I'm not in favor of trading Ben, I don't think anything should ever be off the table. If they truly believe that his replacement is ready to come in and play at a high level and a team offers the moon for him.....why not?

The only problem is that the team better damn well be right about the new quarterback or the shit will literally destroy the fan.

[Mojouw]

Trade won’t be quick. No playoff team will get involved until their season is over. 8 teams are in a coaching search. Basically half the league is not answering the phone right now.

[BnG_Hevn]

There is a picture floating around facebook that reads: Madden curse works in mysterious ways" and has a picture of AB with a copy of Madden

[Michael]

I hope Ben plays many more years. But when his time is coming to an end I hope he learned something from Joe Flaco today.

[AtlantaDan]

Ben said he’d do whatever to win. Contract details will demonstrate if that is just talk.

With regard to what is real and what Ben is saying solely because he assumes that is what should be said, let's see if Pouncey really needs to get a new deal before Ben extends/restructures

“They can come to me tomorrow and say we want to get your deal done. I’ll say, ‘Get Pouncey done first.’ That’s only because I want to make sure he’ll be here.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/201901070025

Haven't seen any quotes where Ben says he wants to make sure AB, who Ben claims is one of his "best friends" on the team, will be here if Ben extends his deal

[zulater]

With regard to what is real and what Ben is saying solely because he assumes that is what should be said, let's see if Pouncey really needs to get a new deal before Ben extends/restructures

“They can come to me tomorrow and say we want to get your deal done. I’ll say, ‘Get Pouncey done first.’ That’s only because I want to make sure he’ll be here.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/201901070025

Haven't seen any quotes where Ben says he wants to make sure AB, who Ben claims is one of his "best friends" on the team, will be here if Ben extends his deal

I know you're being sarcastic but.

Why should he? AB has 3 years left on his contract. If AB wants to stay all he has to do is say so. I guarantee you if AB tweeted today that his priority was to mend fences with the Steelers and come back for the greatest season of his career in 2019 everything that's happened to this point would quickly be forgiven and swept under the rug.

[steelreserve]

With regard to what is real and what Ben is saying solely because he assumes that is what should be said, let's see if Pouncey really needs to get a new deal before Ben extends/restructures

“They can come to me tomorrow and say we want to get your deal done. I’ll say, ‘Get Pouncey done first.’ That’s only because I want to make sure he’ll be here.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/201901070025

Haven't seen any quotes where Ben says he wants to make sure AB, who Ben claims is one of his "best friends" on the team, will be here if Ben extends his deal

Maybe getting a little off topic here, but I thought I heard Pouncey say he was considering retirement after his current contract was over? Or something to that effect. Of course I can't find the article right now on mobile.

[tube517]

Maybe getting a little off topic here, but I thought I heard Pouncey say he was considering retirement after his current contract was over? Or something to that effect. Of course I can't find the article right now on mobile.

Pouncey said he would retire if Ben retires.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/t...isberger-does/

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

[tube517]

[hawaiiansteeler]

Blitzburg
@Steel_Curtain4
Apr 5

ESPN just said they think Ben Roethlisberger will get a 4 year $116 million deal with $44 million guaranteed. That seems steep. #Steelers

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Steelers?src=hash

[Mojouw]

It's right in line with the rest of the recent QB contracts.

But it certainly doesn't fit with Ben doing whatever it takes to be a champion.

[hawaiiansteeler]

Russell Wilson deal shouldn't slow Steelers' talks with Big Ben

Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH -- The ballooning quarterback market was already a factor in Ben Roethlisberger's negotiations with the Pittsburgh Steelers on a new deal. The numbers are too big to ignore, with seven quarterbacks signing deals worth $25 million or more annually in the past two years.

Then Russell Wilson popped that balloon with a massive $140 million deal over four years, dunking over previous QB cash king Aaron Rodgers with $35 million per year to stay with the Seattle Seahawks through 2023.

But Wilson's deal probably doesn't change much for Roethlisberger and the Steelers, who have taken their time on what will be Roethlisberger's last NFL contract. Roethlisberger is attending the Steelers' phase one of the offseason program this week.

Though Roethlisberger can use rising quarterback pay to his advantage and will land a sizable multiyear deal, he's not expected to surpass Wilson's per-year average, barring a new development, according to a source.

This isn't about the caliber of quarterback. Roethlisberger is still among the league's best. But the dynamics are different.

Roethlisberger is 37 years old and wants to retire with the franchise that drafted him 15 years ago. That something wasn't done in March shows that Roethlisberger and his agent, Ryan Tollner, have been willing to stay patient for the right deal.

to read rest of article:

http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-...s-with-big-ben

[SteelMember]

One Hundred Million Dollars!

[Born2Steel]

One Hundred Million Dollars!

“One BILLION dollars!” Lol

[hawaiiansteeler]

Sources: Steelers target Big Ben deal before draft

ESPN

The Pittsburgh Steelers are working to complete an extension for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger before the NFL draft begins Thursday night, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old Roethlisberger, who was drafted by the Steelers in 2004, is heading into the final season of four-year, $87.6 million deal that he signed in 2015. Pittsburgh, however, wants to retain him beyond that.

The two sides have been talking since the end of the season and are now making progress and getting closer to getting the deal in place, a source told ESPN.

to read rest of article:

http://www.espn.co.uk/nfl/story/_/id...ben-deal-draft