Cardinals coach Bruce Arians had go through a few anxious moments this offseason, wondering if his beat-up veteran quarterback was going to come back.
So coupled with his experience in Pittsburgh with Ben Roethlisberger, he expects the Steelers quarterback to be back on the field this season after previous musing about retirement.
“I think given time, he’ll be ready to roll,” Arians said, via ESPN. “He’s in a time where he’s making decisions, too. He’s got the three kids and I think, like [Cardinals quarterback] Carson [Palmer], he got beat up.”
Roethlisberger didn’t take the abuse Palmer did last season, but he has accumulated a lot of hits over a career that has seen him be willing to leave the pocket and take more. Five of those seasons were with Arians as his offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, giving the Cardinals coach a bit of insight.
Of course, plenty of players wonder aloud about their futures in the immediate aftermath of the season, but after the soreness subsides (making them better able to reach for their future fatter wallets) many guys end up forgetting about that talk.