Outside of the draft and free agency—perhaps not even outside of that—the Pittsburgh Steelers’ top priority this offseason was to get their franchise piece, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, under contract beyond the 2019 season. They were able to accomplish that a few weeks ago, signing him to a two-year extension that ties him up through the 2021 season, which will be the last football that he plays before the big four-zero.
Are the Steelers concerned about his physical ability to play through that? Reportedly, they required assurances that he was mentally committed to playing during that duration, but there are no indications that they ever questioned his capability of performing the tasks necessary to compete at the highest level.