DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Ben

I'd move on. You try to figure out if you can win with whoever you have on your roster, be it either Rudolph or Haskins.

If you can't win with either one of them, at least you're in a better spot to draft someone you can win with.

It'll be interesting. They were lucky to be able to land Ben in '04 and have an era of success. They don't strike me as a team, though, that will be drafting in the top 5 or top 10 next year to grab a top QB prospect. I will be interested to see if they become one of those teams that has a QB who is not good enough to win big, but not bad enough to cut, kind of like the Bengals were with Dalton for a while.

Knowing their luck, though, it'll be like 2017 was for the Chiefs, and they will somehow draft the best QB after a few others were already taken.

Interesting question. I think I keep him (if he renegotiates at a price the organization is comfortable with). That gives you a full year to develop your next QB (assuming you draft one) with Ben holding down the fort. The way the NFL is, the Steelers could still compete for at least a wild card spot with him as the QB. If they know Rudolph is not the future, there's no need turning it over to him.

If they can trade for a QB, that changes things, of course. In the back of my mind, I keep hoping against hope that they don't trade for Watson! I know it doesn't seem like something they'd do, but being a Browns fan brings with it a constant fear of that type of thing!

Cutting Roethlisberger helps the Steelers cap situation but not much. They’d have $22 million if he was cut. They have two options restructure or hope he retires. My guess is that they restructure and run it back for one more year.

They have nobody that can hope to man the position. Yes, Rudolph can chuck it, but I think we all saw that there's far more to the position. If Ben retires, you're just trading one problem for another.

Try to get him to restructure, if he's playing another year. They need to start figuring out who's going to be their starter in a hurry.

Interesting you brought Darnold up for the Steelers because I just did a mock draft yesterday in which I had Big Ben retiring and the Steelers trading for Darnold. I think Pittsburgh should just move on and start the rebuild now as not only are they in cap hell but they have a lot of starters who are free agents that they need to re-sign or replace. I'd also put Haden, Heyward, and DeCastro on the trade block.

“We’re excited to see what Dwayne can do with us,” general manager Kevin Colbert told Steelers.com on Wednesday. “It didn’t work out for him in Washington. We had high grades on Dwayne coming out of Ohio State. He got picked a lot higher than we were able to make that decision.”

If one were to completely ignore the off-field stuff with Haskins in Washington, how would you say he did?

j/c

On the matter of Darnold, before making such an investment one would first have to believe he could be your QB of the future. I don't see that in him.

What seems to be the most popular answer these days is to tank for a season in order to have a high draft pick going into the next draft. This gives you a reasonable five year deal with a QB allowing you to have the cap space with which to add players to build your team.

If they decide to cut Ben, having Haskins and Rudolph as your QB options for the coming season opens the door to that possibility.

Terrible. He was 18/67 for passes longer then 10 yards with 6 INTS according to PFF.

Haskins = Geno Smith 2.0.

They aren't as excited about that prospect as I am.

This is a good move for them ... tank the season and get a first round pick the next year.

If the goal is to tank, they're going to have to do something about that defense.

idk, Haskins was pretty good. I think he got the short end of the stick in Washington.

Haskins a dink and dunk QB because he can't read defenses.

That's all Ben is at this point.

I hope Ben resigns and goes 3-13 beating the Bengals twice and Baltimore once

Well, if next year is anything like last year, hope for a late season matchup, as the arm will be tired.

I think we will beat them twice regardless. That playoff loss got in his head bad, you could see it.

Darn, this disappoints me because admittedly I always wanted his last game to be a loss to us on the playoffs. Then I got my wish! Or so I thought. With that being said I still dont see even with restructuring his contract how they will have enough money to be active in free agency.

j/c:

Pastor .. awesome post! Love it.

That last statement is key and something that isn't getting highlighted. Tells me that Ben is on board with restructuring and helping the team through their cap situation.

It will be quite interesting to see what they did here.

I think this is good for us.

Turned his one year deal into a two year. If he isn't done after this season, he's definitely done after next.

I wonder how much is guaranteed salary this year? Like, could they save even more by cutting him after June 1?

So they're still about $6 mill over the cap and they have a ton of free agents.

Ben! ?

Ben, Who nobody accused him of being a car thief.

Bone I don't think you are looking at this the right way, here is why.

At this juncture who better to act as a bridge QB for the Steelers then Ben. Hell they will be competitive at a minimum as well.

Haskins isn't all that great but he never had the luxury of a mentor he really got thrown into the fire. Ben buys them time and look at Rudolph for example I saw real improvement in his play this season. he said and I believe it that it was Ben and how he prepared that helped him tremendously.

Then there is the cost of a bridge QB, think in those terms and sweeten the price tag just a bit because Ben has always been a winner. I think Ben wanting to play is a blessing for Pittsburg and buys them time.

They have some aging veterans that they have to be concerned about along with Ben, but in a QB driven league you have a HOF mentor for Ben's eventual replacement. I look for them to be aggressive in getting rid of some of those aging vets and I am sure they have plans to improve their running game. Rumor has it they are interested in resigning Connor but I don't believe that is a wise choice. He stinks although he has had some career days against the Browns. Not very good IMO.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times over the years I have written off the Steelers with an improved running game, Ben will continue to win games and like I said buy time for his replacement.

They know how to build a winning team in Pitt, that is a proven fact.

There were times last season that Ben looked like the Ben of Old. But honestly, most times he appeared to be missing something. not sure what.. I really didn't think his arm was as strong as before..

He's older is what it is...

Unlike Brady who has always been slender, Ben has always been a big guy. Once people like that hit middle age, it's harder for people like that to fight the battle of the bulge.

We have all known people who even in grade school were just a little bit thicker than the other kids. Not even really fat, just thicker. It's in the genes. Those traits don't go away as you age.