The defensive back believes the Steelers are still recovering from the Ben Roethlisberger era.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been stuck in a weird spot since their legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger retired following the 2021 season. The team has struggled to find its long-term solution at the quarterback position, and the franchise’s playoff win drought is in danger of becoming a decade-old. The Steelers have become stuck in the middle of the pack in the NFL, good enough to win in the regular season, but not good enough to have success in the playoffs. One former Steelers defender believes that Ben Roethlisberger is to blame for the Steelers’ struggles over the past decade, even after the quarterback retired from the game.
In his latest episode of “The Corner Suite Podcast,” nine-year NFL veteran Steven Nelson did not hold back on the current state of the Pittsburgh Steelers, titling the video “What Happened To the Pittsburgh Steelers?”
“I was upset because they let Ben dictate keeping that roster together moving forward. That’s why I was upset,” Nelson said. “They didn’t kick me out of Pittsburgh, they tried to betray me. They tried to trade me and they tried to make me take a pay cut for who? Big Ben. A guy that was declining in his career.”
Nelson is a firm believer that the team would have been better off keeping the defense from the 2019 season together, rather than letting Roethlisberger take up over 40 million in cap space over the last two seasons of his career. The Steelers’ defense during the 2019 season was truly special, leading the NFL with 38 takeaways. The team narrowly missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record despite losing Roethlisberger for the season in week 2.
Nelson was cut from the team in 2021 after the team could not find a trade partner for the cornerback. While he may very well have a point that keeping some more pieces from that defense together may have been a better long-term move for the team, he did not mention Roethlisberger taking a pay cut to help the team be as competitive as possible for his final season in 2021.
When Roethlisberger signed what ended up being his final contract extension in Pittsburgh in 2019, it was a two-year deal worth 68 million dollars. This move ensured that the quarterback would remain with the Steelers for the rest of his career, as he was coming off a season in which he led the NFL with 5,129 passing yards. After his elbow injury in 2019, Roethlisberger’s arm was never the same, and the team struggled to find playoff success in his final seasons. The Steelers could have gone in a different direction, but it would have been a tough sell for the organization to not bring back one of their franchise greats coming off one of his best seasons. Tough luck certainly played a role in the way Roethlisberger’s career ended, and why the Steelers continue to stumble without him.
