The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting Ben Roethlisberger back in 2020, but they need to be prepared in case he gets injured again. Kevin Colbert, the GM of the Steelers, spoke about Pittsburgh's backup plan for Roethlisberger next season.
“Lot of times when we get into salary cap management and you have significant dollars in your starter, it’s hard to put a lot of dollars in your backup,” Colbert said, via ProFootballTalk. “We’re very comfortable knowing if need be Mason and Devlin and/or Devlin and Mason and even Paxton Lynch, who’s got number one talent. We’ll see what we got, but we’re comfortable with that right now.”
In Week 2 of the 2019 season, Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending elbow injury. As a result, Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges both received opportunities to start in his absence.
However, neither of them had much success, with them combining for 2,828 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions. Above all, the poor play at the quarterback position is what caused the Steelers to miss the playoffs in 2019.
Seeing that Roethlisberger carries a large-cap hit, the Steelers don't have much money to pay a backup. Although that may be true, Pittsburgh had a few opportunities to upgrade at the backup quarterback position this offseason.
There's no doubt that either Jameis Winston or Andy Dalton would've been upgrades over Rudolph or Hodges. With that being said, the Steelers seem to be confident in their current quarterback situation. If Roethlisberger is sidelined again in 2020, Pittsburgh may regret their decision to stick with Rudolph and Hodges again.
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