Ben Roethlisberger has come a long way from talking about retiring.
Two years after he mused about adopting a year-to-year approach, Roethlisberger has a three-year commitment. And when that three-year commitment ends, Roethlisberger still may keep playing.
“I know he doesn’t have an expiration date,” Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert recently told the #PFTPM podcast. “We just felt that that was a foreseeable future that we were able to do, and he was agreeable to. But I’m sure that he doesn’t have an expiration date. I know that he’s still very competitive. He still wants to do this at a high level. . . . He doesn’t need money, he doesn’t need Hall of Fame credentials in my opinion. He’s already achieved both of those. What he wants is more Super Bowls. And he wants to continue to try to win, and we’re gonna support that. And that was a big part of why we were willing to do what we did, and now it’s our job to help him help us get there.”
Roethlisberger turned 37 two months ago. He’ll 39 in the final year of his current deal. With a pair of quarterbacks from his generation already playing beyond 40, maybe Roethlisberger will keep going, through 2021 and beyond.