Ben Roethlisberger is coming back for another year with the Pittsburgh Steelers and seems to have done the franchise a solid favor in doing so, agreeing to take a pay cut in order to create more cap space.
The Steelers entered the offseason in a tricky situation in terms of that cap space. Here are the full details on how Roethlisberger is helping out his team with this new deal:
Ben Roethlisberger willingly reduced his pay to $14M from $19M in this final year of his contract and spread the cash payment through 2022, per source. It lowered the cap hit by over $15M, all so the team can make the right moves to be as competitive as possible this season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 4, 2021
#Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger's new contract for 2021 utilizes a signing bonus, minimum base salary and voidable years to free up about $15 million of cap space, per source. Big Ben takes a $5M paycut, from $19M to $14M, giving the team much-needed breathing room.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 4, 2021
The breakdown:
— $12.925M signing bonus.
— $1.075M base salary
— 4 voidable years to spread out the cap hit (technically a deal through 2025), voiding after the season.So, 1 year, $14M with a greatly reduced cap hit. https://t.co/sFMQteqOQp
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 4, 2021
Ben Roethlisberger was initially set to carry a cap hit worth over $41 million for 2021, which is why a new deal was worked out to get that number much lower to get Pittsburgh in a more tenable cap situation. This is spectacular news for a Steelers team that has some big decisions to make after starting 11-0 last season and then falling apart down the stretch.
Maurkice Pouncey recently announced his retirement, and key players JuJu Smith-Schuster and Bud Dupree are hitting free agency. Bringing back Smith-Schuster and Dupree would be ideal, as JuJu is a key weapon for Big Ben and Dupree returning from his torn ACL would only bolster Pittsburgh's strong defense.
With the AFC North being one of the toughest divisions in football, the Steelers now have a better chance to keep up with the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns next season. We may see all three of these teams make the playoffs again, but Pittsburgh still has plenty of work to do this offseason when it comes to roster moves after this agreement with Ben Roethlisberger.
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