Steelers' Art Rooney II: Roethlisberger still capable, contract delay not about performance

Feb. 26—Two days after releasing a statement that he and his team's longtime quarterback are in agreement about Ben Roethlisberger playing in 2021, Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II reiterated that the organization believes Roethlisberger, even at age 39, remains a high-level NFL starter.

"We think Ben played at a high level last year," Rooney told the Steelers' official website.

"Ben wants to come back and leave on a high note. We're still confident he has the ability to do that. His arm, I would say, is as strong or almost as strong as ever, so I think he's certainly capable of getting the job done."

Roethlisberger had 10 interceptions over his final seven games last season — including four in a playoff loss to Cleveland — souring a season that began with a team-record 11 consecutive wins. The Steelers lost five of their last six.

Through nine games, Roethlisberger had a 103.0 passer rating and 22-to-4 touchdown to interception ratio. From that point on, though, he had an 83.7 rating (including the postseason).

A year after elbow surgery, Roethlisberger had the fewest completed air yards (how far, on average, past the line of scrimmage completed passes traveled when caught) of any full-season starting quarterback at 4.6 yards. He also had the quickest average time to throw (2.3 seconds).

Roethlisberger's yards per attempt (6.3) and yards per completion (9.5) were the lowest of any of his 16 NFL seasons in which he played more than two games. He ranked 29th and 33rd among qualifying passers in the NFL in those categories, respectively.

Roethlisberger rated 22nd among NFL quarterbacks in Pro Football Focus' subjective grading system in 2020. He ranked 17th in footballoutsiders.com's all-encompassing Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement metric.

Still, Roethlisberger tied for seventh in the NFL in touchdown passes and only three QBs had more wins as a starter. Even after the late-season swoon, Roethlisberger's interception percentage of 1.6% was tied for eighth-best in the league.

"We won our division and set a franchise record for most consecutive wins to open a season, so there was a lot of good stuff," Rooney said to Steelers.com. "Ben was as disappointed as anybody the way it ended. That last game is just hard to swallow."

Rooney said that he and Roethlisberger have been "in communication ... throughout the offseason." As more than six weeks passed since the season ended, speculation ramped up that the team was angling for a split from its record-holder in most major passing categories.

Roethlisberger already has played two more seasons than any player in franchise history and in September became franchise leader for career games played.

According to Steelers.com, the delay in announcing an amended contract to make Roethlisberger's return for an 18th season official isn't because of worries about the quarterback's performance level and instead is in regards to managing the salary cap.

"Part of the concern is putting a (competitive) team around him, and we had a good discussion about that," Rooney said. "We know there are still a lot of pieces to the puzzle that still have to fall into place this season, and we're hard at work trying to make that happen."

Roethlisberger must account for $22.25 million in salary-cap space in 2021, whether he plays or not. Under the terms of his current contract, he would earn $19 million if he played: $4 million in salary and a $15 million bonus due next month.

The sides could agree to ink a multiyear extension that serves solely for accounting purposes related to the salary cap. The start of the league year is March 17, a date teams must be cap compliant.

"Hopefully (the team and Roethlisberger) work something out before that," Rooney said, "but certainly if you want to say there's a hard deadline, March 17 would be it."

Mason Rudolph and recent signee Dwayne Haskins are other quarterbacks on the roster.

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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .