14 million, for 19 million in his final year of his contract.

That spread the cash payment through 2022 out, lowering the cap hit by over 15 million.

That's huge, Big Ben said Quote.

It's my greatest honor to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and give my all for this organization.

Now the question is, who can they surround him with?

And so big Ben and the Steelers were off to a great start last season, As you all know.

They, of course, ended up with that 11 game win streak.

But it got pretty ugly once they lost to Washington in Week 13.

Over their last five games, Roethlisberger coughed up a league high eight picks despite facing the second lowest blitz rate in that span.

There are other pieces of why that happened, but Dan Graziano, we start with you, explain some of the details of this pay cut for Ben and exactly what it means.

So they reached a point where he said he wanted to be back.

They said they wanted him back, so they spent the last week or so, working on how he was supposed to make 19 million.

This year, that number goes down to 14 million, and what they do is they take almost all of that converted to a signing bonus.

And then they add four fake years on the end of the contract starting next year so they can spread the signing bonus out for cap purposes.

End result.

A cap number that was going to be right around 41 million for Ben Roethlisberger goes down to right around 26 million.

So they save $15 million on this year's cap.

They're going to have a cap charge for next year of at least $10 million but they'll worry about that next year.

In the meantime, they needed that room so they could put some pieces, as you mentioned around Ben Roethlisberger.

A lot of free agents, a lot of big decisions still to make for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And obviously Ben has the right reasons of being interested in making sure other people could get paid here.

Marcus, Was this the right choice for the Steelers, though at quarterback?

Yes, it was.

Listen, we all know it's with a caveat.

Because if you thought if we thought any of these potential trades for quarterbacks would have the Steelers involved, we'd be having a different conversation.

And I'm sure the Steelers would operate different.

But I don't want to go into a season with Mason, Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins as my only quarterbacks.

And being being insulated is the key here.

Remember Peyton Manning in Denver?

Remember Philip Rivers last year in Indianapolis, not asking those guys to put the team on their back?

That should be the Steelers approach.

Being can still throw.

He can still put the ball where it needs to be.

Obviously, his mobility is an issue.

Like for most older quarterbacks, the Steelers have their work cut out for them as far as making sure being is insulated in this offense to where you're not asking him to do more or go beyond what he has the capacity to do.

And as long as the Pittsburgh Steelers do that, then Big Ben is very capable of playing to a high enough level in order to have success with this football team.

Yeah, Dan, you hear what Marcus is saying about?

Maybe Big Ben being insulated you think Ben coming off of last year?

Of course, he's coming off the surgery.

He's still good enough to just win these games if he's asked to win them on his own.

No, not anymore.

Nor should he be asked to do that.

So, like the question becomes, What now For Pittsburgh?

First of all, fixed the offensive line.

You know Zach Banner.

Free agent Villanueva.

Free agent Pouncey retired.

You have to fix the offensive line before that.

You get to a step to once you do that.

Step to what's your offensive philosophy?

It can't be the same as last year.

You tried to ask Big Ben to carry you so much.

There's gotta be a rhyme and reason.

Old school foundation, New Age philosophy.

You gotta get the run game going somewhat.

You've got a draft of back that's going to be an impactful back early in this draft for this offense.

And then the third thing is, what is the answer at wide receiver?

Okay, we saw Claypool.

Come on.

But first of all, Deontay Johnson, do you think the drops are an issue or are those cured?

And then is there any opportunity to bring juju back.

So those are the big Three questions.

Offensive line.

Fix it, too.

What's the offensively offensive philosophy now that bends there in three?

What are you going to do it?

Wide receiver Graz?

Let's answer some of Dan's big questions here.

What are some of those limitations for the Steelers With those free agents?

Well, it's very difficult.

Obviously.

They have calf issues prior to this restructure, restructure or new contract, whatever it is for Ben Roethlisberger.

So they've got to look at Juju Smith Schuster.

Are they going to be able to afford him?

Depends what he's looking for.

If he's looking for a big payday, they probably do go with some of those younger guys.

I doubt they can bring back Bud Dupree, who was a franchise player for them this year.

They still have T.

J.

Watt coming up for an extension here sometime within the next year, so he's going to be difficult to keep Dan mentioned.

Mike Pouncey retired.

I mean, it's nice to have Ben Roethlisberger back, but you've got to have somebody to snap the ball to him or else you can't get the place started and the offense doesn't work at all.

So Pittsburgh Steelers This is a high priority position in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The position of center Pittsburgh Steelers centers go to the Hall of Fame.

They will try to fill that, but it's going to take a lot of their financial resources and energy to put that offensive line together.

And I'm not sure that leaves a lot of room for the James Connors juju.

Smith Schuster is Mike Hilton's, but due process of the world.

The Steelers can be counting on contributions from a lot of young players next year.

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