As the finishing touches were being put on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s extension, we guessed he’d be getting somewhere between $30 million and $33.5 million a year in new money. That’s right where it ended up.
Roethlisberger is getting two more years and $63 million in new money, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. That’s $31.5 million a year in new money.
So that gives Roethlisberger a better per-year average than Matt Ryan got on his recent contract extension, but less than Aaron Rodgers, which is in turn less than Russell Wilson. At $35 million a year in new money, Wilson raised the bar last week for the best contract in NFL history, and Roethlisberger did not clear that bar.
But it’s still a good deal for Roethlisberger, and a deal that lets the Steelers plan to have him for the remainder of his career -- and to get to work on building a team that can win a third Super Bowl with Roethlisberger at the helm.
