Ben Roethlisberger has been the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise quarterback for a very long time. However, 2019 saw the franchise attempt to win without him, as Roethlisberger got hurt in the second game of the year.
The Steelers held up pretty nicely without the star quarterback, but you could easily argue they would have made the playoffs had he been healthy and played in more than just two games.
The good news is, it appears his rehab is going well. At least, that's what Pittsburgh GM Kevin Colbert says.
In a meeting with beat writers, Steelers GM Kevin Colbert said he remains optimistic that Ben Roethlisberger's rehab is going in the right direction. He has a check-up in LA on 2/21.
"All signs are good. We're hopeful he can make a complete recovery."
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) February 13, 2020
Not only is Colbert optimistic about the recovery of Roethlisberger, he's optimistic about the future of the quarterback as well.
It appears Colbert believes Roethlisberger is not dangerously close to the end of his career, even going as far as comparing him to other quarterbacks from the same 2004 draft class in Eli Manning and Philip Rivers.
More Colbert: 'We don't think Ben is near (where Rivers and Eli Manning are) yet. We don't think he's at the end of the road.'
— Bob Labriola (@BobLabriola) February 13, 2020
Manning did not play all that much in 2019, being benched by the New York Giants for rookie Daniel Jones. After the season, he officially retired.
Rivers, on the other hand, had arguably the worst season of his career in 2019 and the Los Angeles Chargers have decided to move forward without him. Rivers has not retired, and will be picked up by someone, but it's fairly obvious that he's near the end of his career.
Roethlisberger is 37 (will turn 38 on March 2) and coming off a serious injury. Therefore, it's not crazy to assume he might only have a few (at most) years of football left in him.
Colbert and the Steelers seem to be going on the optimistic side of that though. At the very least, they are publicly giving support to the quarterback. They don't appear rushed to make a true in-case-of-retirement plan for life after Roethlisberger.
We will see how true that is in the upcoming draft though.