Ben Roethlisberger is the real leader of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He plays through injuries, allegations and criticism from his own teammates and fans.
All he's ever done since becoming starting quarterback in Pittsburgh is win. Win, win and win some more. He's played in four AFC Championship games, winning three of them. He's played in three Super Bowls, winning two of them. Just win baby win.
Roethlisberger, coming off a year in which he had very good stats and took the Steelers to a Super Bowl, has found a way to help the team and franchise once again. The highest paid player on the team has decided to restructure his contract so that the Steelers can be in a better financial situation when it comes to the salary cap.
Restructuring Roethlisberger's contract is a win-win for both Roethlisberger and the Steelers. Roethlisberger gets more money up front and more bonus money, and the Steelers save money this year when it comes to the cap.
The deal did not add years to the contract but did spread more money out throughout it. Roethlisberger also recently wore his now former teammate Max Stark's old jersey number in practice in order to honor Starks. Roethlisberger considers Starks a good friend. Starks was cut by the Steelers last Friday in order to get under the salary cap.
I wonder if anyone will have anything negative to say about Big Ben now? He's married, he's been playing good football, he's in shape, he organized and ran unofficial team workouts during the lockout and now he takes a pay cut. What a guy! What a leader!
Funny thing is if this were Tony Romo, Michael Vick, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and/or Peyton Manning, it would have been huge news in the mainstream media. That's fine, Roethlisberger doesn't care. All he's worried about is winning.
James Harrison, Brett Keisel and Chris Kemoeatu have also agreed to restructure their contracts to help the Steelers.
Let praise a man for taking a small pay cut, when he makes 100 million over the life of his contract. I mean this is like Manning taking 90 million instead of 100 million and saying his contract was about the Colts and not the money. What a saint these guys are for taking a few million less.
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