PITTSBURGH — Steelers president Art Rooney II said he would like Ben Roethlisberger to return for the 2021 season, but he acknowledged the team has to come to some agreement with their two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback over his significant salary-cap hit next season.
Rooney said the Steelers cannot have Roethlisberger back under his current contract, which calls for him to earn $22,250,000 in base salary and count $41.25 million against the cap. Roethlisberger is in the final year of a three-year contract.
"We'd like to see Ben back for another year if that can work," Rooney said in a Zoom call on Thursday with Pittsburgh-area media. "But there's a lot of work to be done to see if that can happen. There needs to be a decision on either side for that to happen.
"We've been upfront with Ben in letting him know we couldn't have him back under the current contract. He understands we have some work to do there."
Rooney also said the promotion of Matt Canada to offensive coordinator was the first step to not only improving, but changing the Steelers' running game. He noted that some of those changes will involve personnel, specifically pointing up that James Conner is a free agent — a foreboding sign the former Pitt star will likely not return.
Rooney blamed the lack of a running game for the inconsistency of the offense in 2020, particularly late in the season when the Steelers lost five of their final six games, including the embarrassing playoff defeat to the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers ranked last in the league in rush offense after ranking 29th in 2019.
That was the primary reason the Steelers did not renew the contracts of offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and offensive line coach Shaun Sarrett after the season.
"Everybody agrees you can't be 32nd," Rooney said. "We have to start with a commitment to the run game. It's not something we've always had. When you look at the changes to the staff, that's part of the mindset. I think everybody understands we're going to have to be better than that."
Rooney said he thought the Steelers had a roster to compete for a Super Bowl championship, pointing out the franchise-record 11-0 start and winning the AFC North title as proof. But he cited other factors such as injuries to Devin Bush and Bud Dupree on defense and a juggled schedule that resulted in short work weeks as reason for the late-season collapse.
Rooney made it clear he does not blame coach Mike Tomlin for the way the season ended and gave him a resounding vote of confidence. Tomlin heads into the final year of his contract with the Steelers.
"I feel comfortable in saying he'll be our coach into the future," Rooney said. "We didn't finish the way we would like — the playoff game is hard to analyze what we did, turning the ball over that way — but I don't see how you can attribute that to coaching preparation. The team went into the game prepared and felt we were prepared to win."
