Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger opened up the offseason musing about retirement and the topic came up again as training camp was getting underway with Roethlisberger saying he wouldn’t commit to anything beyond the 2017 season.
Roethlisberger reiterated that on Wednesday, telling reporters that he hopes to play into the future but is only focused on what’s coming up this year. He did share one thing that will make it likelier that he continues to play in 2018.
“If those guys up front are playing as well as they have been playing, getting sacked 17 times in [2016] -- it might keep me around a little longer,” Roethlisberger said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The 17 sacks in 14 games last year were preceded by 20 sacks in 12 2015 games and those are the two lowest sack totals of Roethlisberger’s NFL career, so the run of good protection has been going on for a while. With the same group back for this year, the Steelers have reason to expect more of the same and, perhaps, more of their quarterback as a result.