UNITY TWP., Pa. — On the first day of work during the Steelers training camp at St. Vincent College, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he’s excited and ready to get started the 2019 season started.
He also said he has plans on playing beyond 2019 and playing through the end of the three-year contract he signed earlier this offseason.
Roethlisberger is signed through the end of the 2021 season on a contract that is worth $85 million. The 37-year-old hand’t publicly clarified his future plans since signing the deal.
“I plan on playing my contract out,” he said. “I’ve honored all my contracts to date, so that’s my goal.”
Roethlisberger has hinted at retirement in previous years. In 2017, he didn’t announce he was returning for another season until April. After that season, he said “I’m just playing it one year at a time” on his radio show.
But Roethlisberger’s story started to change after the Steelers selected quarterback Mason Rudolph in the 2018 NFL Draft.
“I plan on playing for three to five more years, depending on how the line goes and staying healthy, if I can stay healthy,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in May 2018.
Now, he said he plans on finishing his contract and then he’ll make a decision on his future. Roethlisberger will turn 40 before the 2022 season.
“I’m going to play to the end of my contract and then I’ll decide anything after that.”
Roethlisberger is the oldest player on the Steelers by four years and he will be among the handful of oldest starting quarterbacks in the league in 2019, along with fellow 2004 draftees Eli Manning and Philip Rivers. Tom Brady, who won his sixth Super Bowl with New England in 2019, will turn 42 next week. He is the oldest active non-kicker in the NFL.