Ben Roethlisberger said Tuesday that he’d like to play three to five more years. Good for him! We should all have a goal. If his is to be dodging edge rushers when he’s 41, that’s great.
History, however, suggests the Steelers probably shouldn’t be betting on him reaching it and were wise to begin looking for his replacement, whether that ultimately proves to be third-round pick Mason Rudolph or not.
Pro Football Reference’s “similar players” feature is instructive in this regard. For each player profile on its site, PFR provides a list of historically comparable players based on production (as opposed to style) to help us add context to the statistical profiles of modern stars.