Despite contemplating retirement over the past couple seasons, Ben Roethlisberger will be back at quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season, and possibly even the season after that. However, Steelers GM Kevin Colbert could be looking to secure the longer-term future of the position sooner rather than later.

Colbert said on PFT Live (per Michael David Smith) that he’d like to find Big Ben’s heir apparent and set up a quarterback succession plan similar to how the 49ers went from Joe Montana or the Packers with Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers.

“You want to give Ben the best opportunity to win a Super Bowl while he still can,” Colbert said. “You also want to recognize that great franchises that go from generation to generation and still are successful, they usually pass it on because of great quarterbacks. San Francisco from Montana to Steve Young, Green Bay from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. You’d like to be able to do that.”

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Although, Colbert admits that while drafting one of the elite quarterbacks would be ideal, it’s highly unlikely for Pittsburgh to do so while Roethlisberger is around since he’ll likely keep them from drafting high enough to take one of those top prospects.

Obviously, every team would love to have quarterback situations like the Niners or Packers, who successfully transitioned from one Hall of Fame quarterback to another. However, it takes a lot of luck to pull that off, which is why it doesn’t happen too often in the league.

Nevertheless, it shouldn’t stop the Steelers from trying to prepare for Big Ben’s inevitable departure as best they can.