Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl champion quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down in Week 2 of the 2019 season, eventually having to undergo season-ending elbow surgery, but the AFC North franchise believes it will have their veteran gunslinger under center again in 2020.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that the Steelers are “optimistic” in Roethlisberger's full recovery from surgery, leading to the belief that the six-time Pro-Bowl quarterback is expected back next year.
Clarity to calm down the masses – the @Steelers are now optimistic Ben Roethlisberger will recover from elbow surgery to reattach three tendons. Not cleared to throw yet but he is tracking better and Ben himself wants and expects to play in 2020 and beyond, per sources.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) December 23, 2019
Roethlisberger, 37, signed a two-year extension with the club in April of 2019, and he could stay with Pittsburgh through 2021.
Since the two-time Super Bowl champion went down, the Steelers have had to rely on Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges under center. The former is a third-round pick by Pittsburgh from the 2018 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma State. Rudolph has thrown 176 completions for 1,765 yards and 13 touchdowns in eight starts. Hodges, meanwhile, known as “Duck,” is an undrafted rookie QB out of Samford, who is 3-2 in five starts this year, throwing 91 completions for 968 yards and five touchdowns in seven games.
The Steelers are seemingly unconvinced about going with either quarterbacks in the near future despite Hodges and Rudolph keeping Pittsburgh in the postseason conversation (although that's mostly due to its strong running game and defense). Pittsburgh may be able to clinch the second AFC Wild Card spot next week. The Tennessee Titans are also vying for that same spot.
So, that makes Roethlisberger's viability to start under center in 2020 more obvious due to the far-from-flawless quarterbacking by his substitutes. However, that is also conditional on how Big Ben recovers from having multiple tendons in his elbow reattached.
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