Ben Roethlisberger To Continue Playing Beyond 2021?

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The Steelers recently inked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a lucrative contract extension that will keep him under club control through 2021. At the time, GM Kevin Colbert said that the contract would likely be Big Ben’s last.

That jibed with the sentiments that Colbert expressed earlier this year when he first indicated that he was exploring a new deal for his star quarterback. But now he’s suggesting that he would be open to keeping Roethlisberger around in 2022 — which would be Roethlisberger’s age-40 season — and beyond.

Colbert said (via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk), “I know [Roethlisberger] doesn’t have an expiration date. We just felt that [the extension] was a foreseeable future that we were able to do, and he was agreeable to. But I’m sure that he doesn’t have an expiration date. I know that he’s still very competitive. He still wants to do this at a high level.”

Of course, Tom Brady will be 42 before the season starts, Drew Brees will play his age-40 season this year, and Peyton Manning was almost 40 when he played his last game. Although those future Hall-of-Famers have not absorbed as many hits as Roethlisberger throughout their careers, they have shown that geriatric signal-callers have plenty to offer.

Colbert added, “What [Roethlisberger] wants is more Super Bowls. And he wants to continue to try to win, and we’re gonna support that. And that was a big part of why we were willing to do what we did, and now it’s our job to help him help us get there.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.