Chicago Bears add these two quarterbacks to the evolving options list
The Chicago Bears could turn to Ben Roethlisberger if he is released
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a potential out of Ben Roethlisberger’s contract this offseason, but it will be a costly one. If the Steelers were to cut him, the team will still have to pay over $22 million dollars in dead cap space. If he were to remain on the team, he will be owed over $41 million.
The Steelers are not in the best of spots with their salary cap as they are projected to be $14 million dollars over the projected cap floor in 2021. Even if it goes up slightly, they will not be under the cap heading into the offseason.
By cutting Ben Roethlisberger, the team will find themselves under the cap before any other roster moves the team plans to make. The other option is that Roethlisberger agrees to some type of contract restructure. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and the Chicago Bears might not have the ability to be patient enough at the quarterback position to wait and see.
Steelers GM Kevin Colbert doesn't give a strong endorsement for Ben Roethlisberger as QB in 2021: "As we sit here today, Ben is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. ... He reiterated to us that he wants to continue to play. We told him we have to look at this current situation."
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) February 17, 2021
Roethlisberger is coming off a season where he started 15 games. That was a big deal since he only played in two games the year before. Although Roethlisberger has had his fair share of injuries in the past, he has been relatively healthy playing in at least 11 games every other season before 2020.
Roethlisberger would not be my first choice for the Chicago Bears, and he wouldn’t even make my top three. That said, I would not rule out the idea of bringing him in though and he wouldn’t be at the bottom of my list either. If cut, the Chicago Bears would be smart to see what it would take to bring Ben Roethlisberger in on a short-term deal. At 38 years old, the team cannot afford to give him a long-term contract. However, Roethlisberger proved last season he has plenty in the tank.
He helped lead the Steelers to a 12-3 record by throwing for 3,803 yards (would have been over 4,000 if he started all 16 games), 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Chicago Bears fans would be ecstatic with those stats. Ben Roethlisberger was on point with his accuracy last year too. He completed more than 65 percent of his passes while 76.4 percent of those passes were on target.
While Ben Roethlisberger does not really fit the scheme that Matt Nagy likes to run, Nagy needs to be able to adapt to whoever the Bears can bring in to save both his and Ryan Pace’s jobs beyond 2021. Why not a two-time Super Bowl champion?