We were left with more questions than answers until the end of Mike Tomlin’s final press conference for the 2020 season.
An important question was what the Steelers intend to do about defender Ben Roethlisberger whose current contract expires at the end of the 2021 season.
When WPXI sports writer Alby Oxenreiter asked Tomlin if it was realistic to expect Roethlisberger to return, given the salary cap implications, Tomlin said, “I think it’s reasonable to assume there’s a chance he’ll come back.” surely”.
Roethlisberger’s return comes with a $ 41 million salary cap or 23% of the total cap, according to OverTheCap.com. The contract will pay him the basic salary of 19 million – 4 million dollars and a bonus of 15 million dollars on March 15. The remaining $ 22.25 million is a proportional bonus, which counts as dead money or for which Pittsburgh will be responsible, even if Ben is released or retires.
Tomlin claims that he is not aware of the current situation of the Steelers salary cap. “I’m very much in the process of gathering information there,” he said.
No matter what the Steelers decide, we’ll know before March 15 when the $ 15 million bonus will be paid.