Ben Roethlisberger Restructures Contract With Steelers, Helps Pad 2012 Salary Cap
Ben Roethlisberger has worked with the Pittsburgh Steelers front office to restructure his contract, a move that has allowed the team to enter the upcoming season below the 2012 salary cap.
The team needed to work with Big Ben, linebackers Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley and cornerback Ike Taylor to ensure that the team was under the cap by March 13.
The Steelers fell $8 million below the league cap on Thursday after an inside source announced that those contracts have been settled.
While the salary cap decrease was good news for Pittsburgh they still need to make more room in the cap if they plan to place the franchise tag on wide receiver Mike Wallace.
At stake for Ben Roethlisberger was an eight-year, $102 million deal that he signed in 2008. While the quarterbacks reworked contract doesn’t affect how much he’ll make by the end of his deal it does shave millions off his $11.6 million payout for 2012, giving the Steelers a bit of breathing room.
The Steelers will now move towards securing Mike Wallace after GM Kevin Colbert said on Thursday that he believes Wallace will stay with the team in 2012. Colbert said of Wallace’s future with the team:
“We want Mike to finish his career with the Steelers and I’m confident Mike wants to finish his career with the Steelers.”
Do you think signing Mike Wallace as a franchise player is a smart move for the Pittsburgh Steelers now that they have reworked contracts for some of their key players to make that contract a reality?
