Let me preface this post by saying that I love watching Ben Roethlisberger play football. He's big, strong, athletic and he's arguably a top 5 QB right now. I'm not in favor of trading Ben because I do not like him, but I'm in favor of trading Ben for sake of the salvaging the team's future.
I mentioned this idea in a previous post, but I'm sold on the idea now more than ever. The Steelers are in salary cap hell right now. They are restructuring restructured contracts in an effort to comply with the NFL salary cap. The team has aging veterans that should be released, but there is inadequate depth to fill in and produce at a playoff caliber level. Poor drafting overall for the last decade had created a significant problem. Even with Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers could be faced with mediocrity for a few years while they attempt to rebuild the organization.
Ben still has a few years of high level play in him. Because of that, Ben still has high quality trade value. Why spend 12 million a year for a guy that doesn't have the supporting cast to legitimately make another Super Bowl run though?
Although the move would be vastly unpopular, I'm in favor of making a run at the #1 pick in the draft. The Kansas City Chiefs hold the #1 pick and Andy Reid would gladly trade it for a quarterback that could make an immediate impact and secure his job for a few years. The Steelers could use the pick to draft the top quarterback in the draft (Geno Smith) and begin building for the future. Smith is like Roethlisberger in many aspects. He's big, mobile, and has great arm strength. Additionally, Roethlisberger would warrant additional draft pick(s) that the Steelers could use to continue to rebuild the depthless organization.
This would be a risky, ballsy move...but sometimes successful executives make risky, ballsy decisions to be successful. It's now or never time and the Steelers should consider making an unpopular decision that would help build for the future and help relieve them from salary cap hell.
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