By Justin McGonigle
www.SteelerNation.com
The news continues to roll out of the Steel City this weekend as news has broke that Ben Roethlisberger will likely decide to return for the 2021 season.
Roethlisberger said after the loss to Cleveland that he would talk with family and friends, but he hoped the Steelers would want him back. The Steelers seemingly do want Roethlisberger back, and why would Roethlisberger want to end his career on that performance.
From @gmfb Weekend on optimism Ben Roethlisberger will be back with the #Steelers in 2021. pic.twitter.com/oJY9XaA8Th
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 16, 2021
Per Garafolo, Roethlisberger has already communicated that if he returns he wants wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on board as well.
That means Roethlisberger would need to sign an extension that would only be in theory. His cap hit is 41 million, but he's being paid 19 million. The rest is money he's already been paid that was pushed into future years for book purposes only.
If Roethlisberger returns, that means the team might have to mortgage a year down the road and push a bunch of money into future years with restructuring of contracts. If they don't, him coming back will be a moot point with a team forced to rebuild because of the reduced salary cap. Time will tell, but Omar Khan and Kevin Colbert usually don't let us down.
What do you think about Roethlisberger returning SteelerNation? Let us know in the comments below!
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