Ben Roethlisberger. Two-time Super Bowl champion, former Offensive Rookie of the Year. As one of the NFL’s most recognizable quarterbacks of the new millennium, the 32-year-old Steelers passer has stuck with Pittsburgh since 2004.

Recently, there have been talks of the Steelers giving Big Ben a contract extension, but according to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport, the Steelers are reportedly waiting until after 2014 to give Ben a contract extension.

The Value of Ben Roethlisberger to the Steelers

Of course, this is the same Steelers team that failed to make the playoffs in 2012 and 2013, but most of the blame does not fall on Ben. Most of it falls on a struggling supporting cast offensively and defensively, and a front office that has failed to draft secure pass protection for Big Ben. Go figure.

Ben is easily the Steelers’ most valuable player on the offensive spectrum. Sure, he’s got Antonio Brown (who had a stellar 2013 season) on the receiving front, but not much else, and future Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu can’t do everything for the Steelers on defense except make them at least look good with his fabulous hair.

But enough about that. This is not an article on hair care products. This is an article on Ben Roethlisberger, and why he deserves a contract right now, and not later.

Ben has brought so much to the Steelers franchise, levels of greatness they had not seen since Terry Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain in the 70s.

Take a look at Roethlisberger’s first two seasons in the NFL as proof.

Ben Roethlisberger: First Two Years In The NFL

Games CMP% YDS TD INT RATE Y/A 4QC GWD 26 64.7 5,006 34 20 98.3 8.9 7 8

Though Roethlisberger’s first two years aren’t as flashy statistically as, say, Russell Wilson or Andrew Luck, he was very accurate from 2004-05 (64.7 CMP%), and led the NFL in yards per attempt in 2005. Roethlisberger also helped lead the Steelers to comebacks and game winning drives, many of which came from their 15-1 season in 2004. Not bad for a rookie quarterback.

Roethlisberger is also ninth in yards per attempt all time (7.8, tied with Tony Romo and Bart Starr), 12th in completion percentage (63.3%), and 9th in passer rating (92.6). Eight of his ten seasons have come with a passer rating of at least 90.0, and he has five consecutive seasons with a 90.0+ passer rating, as well as two seasons (2004, 2009) with a completion percentage of at least 66.0%.

Needless to say, Big Ben is extremely accurate as a passer.

Sadly, some of Big Ben’s best years came when the Steelers failed to make the playoffs or didn’t get very far in them. In 2007, perhaps Ben’s best season, he passed for 3,154 yards, 32 TD, 11 INT, completed 65.3% of his passes, had a passer rating of 104.1, and threw touchdowns on 7.9% of his passes. Despite this, the Steelers lost the AFC Wild Card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars the very same year (though Ben was honored with his first Pro Bowl recognition for his 2007 performance).

The 2009, 2012, and 2013 seasons have also looked down upon by many, due to Pittsburgh missing the playoffs all three seasons. Take a look at how Big Ben did during those years.

Roethlisberger: 2009, 2012, 2013

YDS CMP% TD INT RATE 11854 65.2 80 34 97.4

Yep. Roethlisberger played efficient even when the Steelers missed the playoffs. Much like fellow QBs Tony Romo and Eli Manning, Big Ben’s past accomplishments have unfairly been put behind because his team has not recently made the playoffs. Which is shame, because Big Ben is playing excellent football in spite of this.

Big Ben also holds many NFL records, including highest completion percentage in a rookie season (66.4%, 2004), highest single game completion percentage in a rookie season (84.0%, 10/17/2004), most TD passes on Monday Night Football (5, 11/5/2007), is one of two quarterbacks (Peyton Manning) with three perfect passer rated games in the regular season, and is the only quarterback in NFL history to have more than one perfect passer rated game in a single season.

More importantly, Big Ben holds many Steelers franchise records as well. These include: most passing yards, highest passer rating, highest completion percentage, highest yards per attempt, most 400+ passing yard games, is the only Steelers quarterback to throw 500+ yards in a single game, most consecutive games with a TD pass, most TD passes in franchise history, and the most 4th quarter comeback victories.

But there’s really one main reason why Big Ben should be extended right now. The Steelers have no way of replacing the athleticism and ability to extend a play of Roethlisberger. Ben makes up for the lack of extremely high volume TD seasons we’ve seen from the elites (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers) in this category. In the highlight reels, Roethlisberger is perhaps the best quarterback I’ve ever seen under pressure. His size, strength, and ability to keep calm cannot be understated, and this has been especially apparent whenever Big Ben has played well in the clutch in the regular season and postseason.

Via ESPN, since 2011, Big Ben under pressure has a 51.8 CMP% (1st), 1,837 passing yards (1st), 18 TD (1st) and a QBR of 60.5 (2nd).

And, Big Ben has succeeded under extreme pressure despite being one of today’s most sacked quarterbacks. From 2006 to 2009, Big Ben was sacked 189 times, and was sacked at least 46 times in each of those four seasons. In those four seasons, Ben threw 95 TD, 61 INT, completed 62.9% of his passes, and had a passer rating of 89.7, mostly bogged down by his 2006 season (18 TD, 23 INT, 59.7 CMP%, 75.4 Passer Rating. 2007-2009: 75 TD, 38 INT, 64.0 CMP%, 94.6 Passer Rating).

While Ben has made his fair share of mistakes (threw 6 TD and 6 INT in the first 4 games of 2013, all losses), he’s never truly had a successful team around him since his Super Bowl winning days. The 2013 season should have been a playoff year for the Steelers, but was taken away for two main reasons (aside from the 0-4 start): Antonio Brown stepped out of bounds on what would have been a game winning touchdown pass from Big Ben against the Dolphins in week 14 (a loss), and the week 17 San Diego Chargers victory against the Kansas City Chiefs (in which San Diego clinched the AFC’s last playoff spot, aided by a controversial no call on a missed field goal before overtime by Kansas City. The NFL later admitted SD got away with an illegal defensive formation on that play, having too many men on the field). Otherwise, Ben was single handedly carrying his team from a disastrous 0-4 start to a respectable 8-8, and was two unlucky situations away from 9-7 and the sixth seed in the playoffs.

It’s clear that Ben has proven himself as a value to the Steelers offense. While not up to the par of the Big 4 (Peyton/Brady/Brees/Rodgers), he’s been consistent enough to be ranked fifth, sixth, of seventh in terms of quarterbacks heading into 2014.

Finally, we check out the Steelers financially. The Steelers are paying 27 players on offense this year, 23 on defense, and three on special teams (via overthecap.com). The cap space is revealed through 2016 (anything from 2017 and so forth has not been confirmed yet). Check the charts below for further details:

Pittsburgh Steelers Salary Cap: 2014-2016

(Note: “YR” stands for Year, “Off Salary” stands for Cap Salary For The Offense, “Def Salary” stands for Cap Salary For The Offense, “#Of Off Paid” stands for Number Of Players On Offense Getting Paid, “# Of Off Getting Paid” stands for Number Of Players On Defense Getting Paid, and “ST” stands for Number of Special Team Players Getting Paid)

Yr Cap Space Off Salary Def Salary # Of Off # Of Def ST 2014 $6.4M $54.3M $58.4M 25 23 3 2015 — $64.9M $52.7M 27 23 — 2016 — $38.4M $39.4M 18 17 —

Obviously, with the small amount of cap space remaining this year, it makes sense that the Steelers are waiting until after 2014 to give Roethlisberger the extension.

Remember: On March 4th, 2008, Big Ben signed an eight year $102M extension going through 2015, so, as explained, he currently is not one of the players the Steelers are paying for in 2016. It has not been revealed how much cap space the Steelers have in 2015 and 2016. The team has $11.6M in cap savings from Ben’s salary in 2015.

As with any QB extension we’ve seen in the past 2 years, compromises have to be made, players could be cut, or may have to take less money. But the way the Steelers have played recently (Hint: not good enough to reach the playoffs), Ben himself might have to take less in order to help the team improve long-term (signing free agents/draft picks in the future, clearing up cap space, etc.).

Thankfully for the Steelers, it appears they may not have to do much on offense after 2014. In the offseason, they increased their depth in the backfield, signing former New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount (notorious for rushing for 166 yards and 4 touchdowns in a playoff victory against the Indianapolis Colts), and drafted Kent State RB Dri Archer to go along with starting rusher LeVeon Bell. Antonio Brown has established himself as a terrific weapon for Ben to use in the receiving front, and Sophomore WR Justin Brown has recently received praise from the experts at Steelers training camp. The club also signed WR Darrius Heyward-Rey in the offseason as well.

A suggestion for the Steelers is for Ben to get a deal similar to Colin Kaepernick’s deal from the 49ers. Ben probably has six to eight years left in him, so a deal around that would certainly make sense. Basically, we’re looking at a deal that will make Ben happy and the Steelers financially happy.

While I’m not one to put the Steelers in the Super Bowl right away (looking at you, Herm Edwards), Ben deserves another long-term deal with the Steel City, even with his health on the line. Ben knows it, the players know it, and the fans from Pittsburgh know it. Give Big Ben the money, and don’t look back.

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(Stats via pro-football-reference.com, espn.com, and overthecap.com. Source via NFL Network)

Main Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images