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Roethlisberger, Steelers Agree to New Contract

Tibs said:
Interesting...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...ew-contract-sets-record-marks-for-quaterbacks

Here is how the deal ranks among the other biggest quarterback deals in the NFL, in major parameters:

Annual average (new money added to deal)
1. Aaron Rodgers: $22 million
2. Ben Roethlisberger: $21.9 million
3. Matt Ryan: $20.75 million
4. Joe Flacco: $20.1 million
5. Drew Brees: $20 million

Guarantee at signing
1. Roethlisberger: $60.75M
2. Brees: $60.5M
3. Ryan: $59M
4. Rodgers: $53M
5. Flacco: $51M

First 3 yrs. earnings
1. Roethlisberger: $65M
2. Ryan: $63M
3. Rodgers: $62.5M
4. Flacco: $62M
5. Brees: $61M

The deal will save the Steelers, who have been in a cap crunch, a little over $1M in cap space in 2015, but this deal is about much, much more than that. It secures one of the greatest players in the history of the storied franchise for the totality of his career, and allows the franchise to align its budgets and spending for years to come.
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Cap friendly deal too, considering those other QB's signed those deals when the cap was much lower. Ben's making roughly the same amount annually.
 
First time in this thread. This thread will let me know which of you are Steeler fans and the ones that are just bleeding vaginas.
 
According to the cap websites here's the deal:

2015: $4.25 million base salary + $31 million signing bonus (cap number = $17.245 million)

2016: $17.75 million base salary (cap number $23.95 million)

2017: $12.0 million base salary (cap number $18.2 million)

2018: $17.0 million base salary (cap number $23.2 million)

2019: $17.0 million base salary (cap number $23.2 million)


That signing bonus and year-1 payment ($35 million+ this year) is a BIG chunk of change. Obviously it's an off-set to his very low year-3 salary.


We can/will save a LOT of money on his cap hit next year by restructuring up to a potential savings like this:

2016: $1.75 million base salary + $16 million bonus (cap number $11.95 million)

2017: $12 million base salary (cap number $22.2 million)

2018: $17 million base salary (cap number $27.2 million)

2019: $17 million base salary (cap number $27.2 million)


That really creates a three-year window (2015, 2016 and 2017) where Roethlisberger's cap numbers are/could be $17.245 million, $11.95 million and $22.2 million. Those are all very reasonable and pushes all the problems out to 2018 and 2019 when we possibly could create a new contract then (with another extension into 2020-2021 just to allow room to dump cap money when he retires).

Basically this contract tells me Roethlisberger was very cooperative with his year 3 number and wants to give the Steelers 3 years of "win now" and they all pushed the problems of cap number and whether he's taking up too much room to field a good team until 2018/2019 and maybe both sides will sit down again.
 
the 2017, 2018 and 2019 cap hits will be cheap once Luck and the rest of the QBs get their next contract
 
I'm not a big fan of the practice but knowing what our cap is starting to look like for 2016, there is no way this regime doesn't restructure Roethlisberger's scheduled $23.95 cap hit next year.

They will push this off into a very problematic 2018-2019.

I guess it's kind of moot because I don't think our GM or coach care about 2018 all that much. And I'm not sure a 3rd contract with Roethlisberger was ever going to be created that didn't create some problems when he is 36-37 years old in 2018-2019.

Personally, I would have preferred a 6th season. That way the restructuring next year can move cap money into 2020. And any retirement in say spring 2019 can be designated a "June 1st" release and again allows his dead money to be spread out into 2020 a bit.

Maybe the 5-year tells me Roethlisberger really wants to keep playing a 4th possible contract extension is possible (just to help out with retirement cap hits).
 
deljzc said:
According to the cap websites here's the deal:

2015: $4.25 million base salary + $31 million signing bonus (cap number = $17.245 million)

2016: $17.75 million base salary (cap number $23.95 million)

2017: $12.0 million base salary (cap number $18.2 million)

2018: $17.0 million base salary (cap number $23.2 million)

2019: $17.0 million base salary (cap number $23.2 million)


That signing bonus and year-1 payment ($35 million+ this year) is a BIG chunk of change. Obviously it's an off-set to his very low year-3 salary.


We can/will save a LOT of money on his cap hit next year by restructuring up to a potential savings like this:

2016: $1.75 million base salary + $16 million bonus (cap number $11.95 million)

2017: $12 million base salary (cap number $22.2 million)

2018: $17 million base salary (cap number $27.2 million)

2019: $17 million base salary (cap number $27.2 million)


That really creates a three-year window (2015, 2016 and 2017) where Roethlisberger's cap numbers are/could be $17.245 million, $11.95 million and $22.2 million. Those are all very reasonable and pushes all the problems out to 2018 and 2019 when we possibly could create a new contract then (with another extension into 2020-2021 just to allow room to dump cap money when he retires).

Basically this contract tells me Roethlisberger was very cooperative with his year 3 number and wants to give the Steelers 3 years of "win now" and they all pushed the problems of cap number and whether he's taking up too much room to field a good team until 2018/2019 and maybe both sides will sit down again.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about all this. Thank you for the figures and analysis.
 
Sounds like lots of dead money in the future. I remember lots of guys thought Woodley was the guy to keep instead of Harrison and blasted me for that one. I think we are over paying for Ben and that it will hurt the team overall. I think we might have been able to drop his cap hit and contract number with a full guarantee. Glad we have him but think it is too expensive for the position. The bright side is we have him we just have to hope he lasts and that we can build a team.
 
Wingman said:
Sounds like lots of dead money in the future. I remember lots of guys thought Woodley was the guy to keep instead of Harrison and blasted me for that one. I think we are over paying for Ben and that it will hurt the team overall. I think we might have been able to drop his cap hit and contract number with a full guarantee. Glad we have him but think it is too expensive for the position. The bright side is we have him we just have to hope he lasts and that we can build a team.
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this was the first and most important step, now we have to hit the draft
 
Wingman said:
Sounds like lots of dead money in the future. I remember lots of guys thought Woodley was the guy to keep instead of Harrison and blasted me for that one. I think we are over paying for Ben and that it will hurt the team overall. I think we might have been able to drop his cap hit and contract number with a full guarantee. Glad we have him but think it is too expensive for the position. The bright side is we have him we just have to hope he lasts and that we can build a team.
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Takes two people to negotiate. The Steelers really don't have a lot of choices at the position and for all we know the final terms were a lot less than what Roethlisberger came to the table wanting.

If we figure on the salary cap continuing at rise at $10-$11 million/year increases and figure Roethlisberger restructures next year:

2015: $17.95 cap out of $143.2 million = 12.53%
2016: $11.95 cap/ $154.0 million = 7.76%
2017: $22.2 cap/ $165.0 million = 13.45%
2018: $27.2 cap/ $176.0 million = 15.45%
2019: $27.2 cap/ $188.0 million = $14.47%


Now compare that to what's we've done with Roethlisberger his LAST contract:

2008: $7.97 cap hit out of $116 million = 6.87%
2009: $13.22 cap/$123 million = 10.75%
2010: No salary cap
2011: $11.32 cap/$120 million = 9.43%
2012: $8.895 cap/$120.6 million = 7.38%
2013: $13.595 cap/$123 million = 11.05%
2014: $18.895 cap/ $133 million = $14.21%

Basically the last three seasons (2012-2014) Roethlisberger has used up a total of 11.0% of our cap. Over the next three years (2015-2017) you're looking at in the ballpark of 11.3% to 11.5% depending on how aggressive they get with next year's restructuring.

That's not crazy.

It all really comes down to the end of Roethlisberger's career when everyone knows we're going to be eating tons of dead money the season or two after Roethlisberger is not longer on the team (i.e. retired or gone). That's kind of inevitable but you have to think the quarterback we have actually playing will NOT be a $20 million/year player either.
 
It's a fair deal. Ben didn't take a hometown discount, but his people didn't attempt to squeeze every last ounce of the Rooney's blood either. Ben can stand tall and tell his fellow QBs (Eli Manning, Rivers etc.) that he moved the market forward, but it was pretty modest given the way the cap has exploded the past couple seasons.
 
Basically, because of the restructurings, we have a paid franchise QB now, with the ability to add another high paid/star player now, and work out the differences post-Ben when we expect to pay a draft pick very little and eat the chunks of cap space now being brought forward. I think this makes sense, and I like the concept of concentrating the next 3 years on winning another SB.
 
I will make one last point about the contract structure.

Because it is a very "old-school" contract with a HUGE signing bonus, it protects the Steelers if he decides to "retire" early.

We can recoup a % of the signing bonus if he retires in say 4 seasons (out of 5), we then get $6.2 million back in cash AND take $6.2 million off his salary cap hit somewhere (don't exactly know how that works).

That kind of helps us.

I think that's another reason maybe we want Polamalu to retire. We might be asking for money back (he got a $6.75 million signing bonus last season). But then again, because that signing bonus could be argued as a "restructuring" of his scheduled $8 million salary last year (or something like that), we might not get that back.

Not sure how that works.
 
That site doesn't include D'Angelo Williams yet. I'm assuming that deal is almost done (not sure what the holdup is).

That is probably going to use up a few million.

We need a 4th WR.

LOTS of talent in this WR draft class this year, especially at the top. I hate to even broach this subject but could it be possible Tombert looks at a first round WR is that's where the value is?

Normally we have our veteran WR's picked out, targeted and signed in free agency pretty quick. Not this year for some reason.
 
deljzc said:
That site doesn't include D'Angelo Williams yet. I'm assuming that deal is almost done (not sure what the holdup is).

That is probably going to use up a few million.

We need a 4th WR.

LOTS of talent in this WR draft class this year, especially at the top. I hate to even broach this subject but could it be possible Tombert looks at a first round WR is that's where the value is?

Normally we have our veteran WR's picked out, targeted and signed in free agency pretty quick. Not this year for some reason.
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with martavis and wheaton both still very young and Antonio Brown under contract I doubt the team draft a WR early, I'd rather they get a vet like you say. Probably a possesion kind of WR (Jennings?)
 
Litos said:
with martavis and wheaton both still very young and Antonio Brown under contract I doubt the team draft a WR early, I'd rather they get a vet like you say. Probably a possesion kind of WR (Jennings?)
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as the number 4 WR? Jennings isn't likely to go for that, with the limited touches that Moore got last year, gonna be hard to bring in a vet for that role. DHB, Nate Washington, players of that caliber are what should be looked at.
 
No wonder these teams are always in the *******...


$40,697,898

68

$161,205,800

$118,993,042

$1,514,860



Titans

$35,645,999

58

$153,791,978

$112,723,007

$5,422,972



Jaguars

$31,912,511

70

$167,924,507

$134,056,380

$1,955,616



Buccaneers

$25,888,118

61

$144,348,289

$101,351,785

$17,108,386



Raiders

$25,703,985

67

$151,311,156

$116,427,646

$9,179,525
 
Badcat how about more detailed info of the numbers you are posting?
 
thesteelcity said:
Maybe entering his prime was overstating it, but he still is a good QB with a lot of football left in him. Thirty-three is not too old for a QB, even though he has taken a beating. That's why I'm hoping for three more healthy years as anything can happen. Look at Troy, hit the wall hard and they want him to retire. I want a better return with this contract and think he will deliver, as he has done throughout his career here.
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Fair enough. I'd be happy and surprised if he squeezes out three more high-quality seasons, but Ben has not been able to deliver in the playoffs for a while now, which concerns me.
 
stillwright said:
LOL...he is a QB right? if he was Vick i might agree with you. While Ben early in his career scrambled around more for yards the decline in yards rushing could easily be the result of early on in his career he didn't reach a third or fourth option in his progression. Maybe he just took off and ran sooner than he does now....you something called experience.
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But Ben's scrambling mobility was such of big part of what made him so successful earlier in his career. Defenses had to respect that part of his game much more than they do now, and I think that diminished threat will only get increasingly noticeable as he ages.
 
So have the Contract numbers on Ben been released yet or is it still just speculation as to what it really costs us to keep him. If I missed it somewhere and someone has a link I would be interested thanks in advance
 
topseed said:
But Ben's scrambling mobility was such of big part of what made him so successful earlier in his career. Defenses had to respect that part of his game much more than they do now, and I think that diminished threat will only get increasingly noticeable as he ages.
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no team ever "spied" on Ben the way teams did with Vick, Newton, Griffin, etc. He was never a threat to rip off big chunks of yards with his legs. What Ben did, and still CAN do is extend the play by getting outside the pocket. It was never his speed that made this possible, but his size and strength. Teams still try to keep Ben in the pocket, but with Haley's offense, he hasn't needed to push off defenders get outside the numbers and chuck one deep to a wide open guy after 10 seconds. The fact that Ben had so much success INSIDE the pocket this past year is just further proof that he will be able to play well and continue to play well as he ages.
 
deljzc said:
According to the cap websites here's the deal:

2015: $4.25 million base salary + $31 million signing bonus (cap number = $17.245 million)

2016: $17.75 million base salary (cap number $23.95 million)

2017: $12.0 million base salary (cap number $18.2 million)

2018: $17.0 million base salary (cap number $23.2 million)

2019: $17.0 million base salary (cap number $23.2 million)
Click to expand...

Wingman said:
So have the Contract numbers on Ben been released yet or is it still just speculation as to what it really costs us to keep him. If I missed it somewhere and someone has a link I would be interested thanks in advance
Click to expand...

.................
 
Wingman said:
Would we have been better off with a 14 million a year contract.
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Oh, no doubt. The Steelers would have been even better off with a $13 million a year contract, and even BETTER with a $12 million a year contract.

But those are not remotely close to market price. Ben is not going to sign for $14 million/year. Why would he? He can earn an additional $5 million/year with another team.

I understand the concept of a "discount," but typically the discount is not 25% of market value.
 
If he plays 3 more years his cap numbers in 16/17 can be approximately 12M and 15M assuming restructuring.

Although if we keep drafting like craps there will be nobody to extend and no need to restructure.
 
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