Will the Pittsburgh Steelers focus on Ben Roethlisberger extension?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently dealing with the off-season just like every other team in the league. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen quarterbacks across the league receive heavy contract extensions, most of them are questionable decisions by the general managers.

Now Ben Roethlisberger has two years left on his eight year contract that was estimated to be worth around $102 million. That’s a lot of money for a quarterback. Ben is scheduled to have $18.9 million of his deal to hit Pittsburgh’s salary cap this season.

ESPN’s Scott Brown was asked by a fan if he had any idea when Ben Roethlisberger’s contract extension would be done. They could always restructure his deal, add a couple of years but lower his yearly numbers by a little bit, allowing them some wiggle room to fill in other positions when needed.

Scott Brown responded with:

"“I couldn’t agree more with you on Ben Roethlisberger’s contract situation. He has a monster cap number ($18.895 million) and the Steelers should be able to reduce that significantly by signing him to a new long-term deal. I’m not sure why it hasn’t happened yet. The Steelers have made it clear that they intend to sign Roethlisberger to an extension and that they want him to play his entire career in Pittsburgh. Yet there doesn’t appear to be any sense of urgency on the Steelers’ part to get something done.” Part of his response via ESPN.com."

They could be passing up on Emmanuel Sanders only because he’s asking for a deal almost identical to Golden Tate‘s. If Pittsburgh were able to sit down with Ben and discuss a new/restructured deal, they could throw a little bit of money towards the wide receiver position.

If they lose Sanders this year, they should really be hurting. Remember, they lost Mike Wallace to the Miami Dolphins during the off-season last year and Sanders had to step up for this offense.