The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette said on The Fan he’s been told Big Ben coming back to the Steelers still might not work out.
One only needs to look at the looming quarterback carousel set to go round-and-round to know that the Steelers situation with Ben Roethlisberger is a precarious one.
Deshaun Watson wants out of Houston. 2016 second-overall draft pick Carson Wentz will be competing for a starting job this offseason. 2018 third-overall pick Sam Darnold will be on the trading block. The 49ers are looking to move on from Jimmy Garroppolo.
Several teams will be in the market for a quarterback, whether via free agency or the NFL draft. One of those teams could include your Pittsburgh Steelers, pending Big Ben’s return.
Roethlisberger wants to return and knows it’ll be at a reduced salary. But it’s not as simple as that. He’s a future Hall of Famer in the twilight of his career. How much longer does he want to play for? What exactly will that reduced salary look like? What veterans will return to protect him in the pocket?
[lawrence-related id=486256]
Longtime Steelers insider Ed Bouchette, a guest on 93.7 The Fan today, points out that Big Ben isn’t just going to play for nothing. “He said he didn’t care about his salary, but I don’t believe that for a minute,” Bouchette told The PM Team with Poni & Mueller. “They’re going to have to pay him where he’s not going to be embarrassed to come back and play. And I just don’t know if this is all going to work out. I’ve been told it still might not.”
Bouchette added that he has a feeling this isn’t going to go down real easy and said the first indication was from Steelers owner Art Rooney II. “I don’t know that they’re fully embracing his return,” said Bouchette.
Rooney stated last week that the team has “left that door open,” which isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.
Pittsburgh and Ben have a month and some change to get something worked out. He’s due a $15 million roster bonus on March 17.
Either way you slice it, 2021 is not the season — or any season, for that matter — to be in the lurch at quarterback.
In an interview with The Athletic, former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher shares his thoughts on whether there will be football this year.
Bill Cowher, our favorite former head coach, has his doubts that the NFL will move forward with a season this year. Like most of us, he knows the ramifications of COVID-19 can weigh heavily on the league and its players.
Cowher knows a thing or two about the virus because he and his wife believe they contracted it in March. Prior to states shutting down, the two had both traveled extensively and slowly began to experience symptoms. Although Cowher and his wife were not tested when the symptoms occurred, they tested positive for antibodies in April.
Cowher hasn’t been involved in the league — from a coaching standpoint — for 14 years now. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. He still holds a special place in his heart for the sport and the incredible athletes who play it.
So when it comes to his take on whether pro football will happen this year, his concerns are prevalent.
“I don’t know [if the league can pull it off],” Cowher said in an interview with Ed Bouchette of The Athletic. “No. 1, the players have to feel comfortable with whatever they come up with from a testing standpoint, from a protocol standpoint. I totally understand the reluctance. Even though they say young people aren’t getting it, you also have people who have asthma, people who have underlying conditions in their families — they’re going back to their homes with parents who may now be elderly. It’s not like you can isolate yourself from everybody, particularly during a season that’s five months long. …
“I still think we have a long way to go,” he said. “It’s going to come down to the league and the NFLPA feeling comfortable moving forward, and even within that if they come up with a set of guidelines, and now a player who doesn’t feel comfortable, he may not want to be part of it. It affects people differently not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint. … I think we have to respect that.”
Bouchette brought up an excellent possible scenario in his article: “And what, for example, if on the day before a game, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger tests positive for COVID-19? What about teammates he might have come into contact with during the week? What if all three quarterbacks test positive?”
No one knows just yet — beyond testing — what the exact solution for that scenario would look like.
Cowher said the other pro leagues that are now re-convening will serve as a ‘litmus test’ for football.
“It’s going to come down to a set of guidelines that are fair to everyone, and there’s going to have to be flexibility within that. Between now and then, what happens with these other pro leagues, seeing how they handle it, will be a little bit of litmus test for the NFL to see how they can make adjustments. The timing for the NFL … you’re able to see other professional leagues, other professional athletes, start back up, and see how they are handling testing and some of the protocols that are being set.”
I think we can all agree that we’d rather have football this fall than not. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. There’s no doubt that the league is working tirelessly to ensure that players will be safe if football is played.
Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger talked to The Athletic about his status for the season.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says that if spring practices were taking place next month, he would be there.
In an interview with Ed Bouchette of The Athletic, Roethlisberger stated, “I was going to be ready to go for OTAs and the minicamps. That was going to be the plan. Now I don’t know how much I was going to do, I don’t know if I was going to be doing team stuff or stuff like that, but I would have been definitely going to be out there ready to go.”
The NFL canceled all offseason team workouts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, it has not been reported as to how teams will be instructing their players to proceed with isolated workouts in the coming months.
Roethlisberger’s rehabilitation has not been affected by Pennsylvania’s shelter-in-place order. He has a home gym where he rehabs and does his workouts.
Using a football that contains a data-recording computer microchip, Roethlisberger rehabs his elbow by throwing the football. The chip reads data like spin rate, velocity, and spiral efficacy.
“It’s neat to have those tools because in your own mind you say, ‘Ok, that felt 50 percent, that felt 75 percent,’” said Roethlisberger. “I mean, you can do that, but it’s hard to really tell. We have this data, and it’s making it easier and making it able to read these throws. Pretty much every throw we have data on. Right now, I do like a 20-throw warmup at 10 yards, and then we back up, and we do 10 throws at 15, 10 throws at 20, 10 at 25 yards. I’m throwing it right now off the numbers and data, probably right around 60 percent. That’s just me choosing to be at that number.”
“I know I can let it go and throw, but what’s the point, why? There’s no reason to throw as hard as I can right now.”
Not that Roethlisberger would say anything other than he’ll be ready, but this appears to be more good news for the Steelers.
Terry Bradshaw provides his input on Ben Roethlisberger’s injury and eventual return.
Former Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw and Roethlisberger have more in common than position, team, and Super Bowl rings. In 1983, Bradshaw underwent surgery for torn muscles and tendons in his throwing elbow. Roethlisberger’s elbow operation involved reattaching three flexor tendons.
“They tied the muscle together,” Bradshaw said of his surgery. “I took the whole summer off. I came back, and I just couldn’t play.”
So, when Bradshaw offers his advice on Roethlisberger and his elbow, it’s from experience.
“[Roethlisberger] had the surgery, which was good,” said Bradshaw in a recent interview with The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette. “Getting good doctor care, good instructions, good rehab. It’s going to be up to Ben listening to the doctors and what they say. And the doctors not lying to him, and Ben not lying: ‘I feel great.’ Well, maybe you don’t feel great. It takes a while.
According to Bradshaw, coach Chuck Noll urged him to return to game action too early, which ultimately caused permanent elbow damage and led to a necessary but unwanted retirement.
Mandatory Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
There have been significant advancements in medical procedures and rehabilitation since 1983. And coach Mike Tomlin placed Roethlisberger on IR instead of rushing his QB back.
“I got the surgery, and nobody told me, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’” said Bradshaw. “Today, I would have had a strength coach; I would have had a passing coach, I would have had someone working with me how to do it. I was on my own, all by myself.”
“Today I would have had the Tommy John,” he continued. “I would have been out a year, and I would have come back at 36 and ready to go. That truly is something I regret.”
Bradshaw said the mentality Roethlisberger possesses is a vital aspect to consider, as well. “Yeah, in the back of his mind, he’s 38 now. He has to say to himself, ‘OK, take care of this thing.’ Don’t come back until your 100 percent strong, and you can make all the throws, and there is no pain.”
Roethlisberger’s surgeon gave him the green light to resume throwing activities on Feb. 21. He’s been throwing the ball about 40 times a day for 20 yards at most and plans to gradually increase the number of days, throws, distance, and velocity.
The QB has been throwing without pain for the first time in years and hopes to be close to 100 percent by organized team activities and minicamp. Clubs with returning head coaches initially were allowed to begin offseason programs on April 20. Now that OTAs have been delayed indefinitely, Roethlisberger has more time to rehab.
The season before his injury, Roethlisberger, then 36, led the league in passing with 5,129 yards and scored 34 touchdowns.
Roethlisberger personally has no doubts that he come back and play well this season. While there’s no telling how capable the QB will be until games get underway, his confidence is encouraging.
Throughout his 16-year career suffered 19 documented injuries, so it’s no doubt he’d played through pain on many occasions. In Dec. 2018, he suffered cracked ribs late in the first quarter and returned in the third quarter. He wore a protective flack jacket for the remainder of the season.
Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
Roethlisberger has never missed more than four games during a season and, when faced with injuries, seems to prefer playing rather than not. Before 2019, the last time he missed more than one game due to injury was in 2015 with an MCL sprain.
So, Roethlisberger’s return to game action is not about pain tolerance; he’s resilient. Instead, it’s about efficiency, which will require a wait-and-see approach.
Bradshaw is optimistic. “Let me say this: Under proper supervision, I would expect him to come back strong.”
Strong is Roethlisberger’s middle name. At 6-5 and 240 lbs., it often takes multiple defenders to take him to the ground. Despite his strength and build, however, he has been brought down – a lot. Roethlisberger is the most sacked among active QBs (503 sacks in 18 games).
