Dalton =115 million

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Ben should be happy to delay his contract by a year. You might get a few more mediocre QBs cashing in which will raise Ben's demands, and it will likely give Ben an extra season at the end of his career where he is ovrpaid so it will even out this year where he is underpaid by giving him added security. Old players tend to be more concerned with length of contract than the average dollars.

 

[SteelerAl]

The number of QBs that have signed $100 million+ contracts is pretty small to date (obviously it's not a big deal at all anymore as any competent, young QB can get one at this point). Anyone have any idea how many? I think Vick and McNabb were a couple of the first ones to do it. I wonder how many actually saw the end of their deals like Ben will...

 

[USDA#1]

Deadspin (yeah, Deadspin) sez it's more like 2 yrs, $25M with a buncha "club options".

 

[Djfan]

Its been stated that we if lock Ben up now we wont be able to fit other contracts in this summer. The salary cap is expected to get another sizable bump next year making it easier to resign Ben next year.

Someone is making sense now.

The Bungles QB is not so bad, but they just did the Ratbirds dance. Love it. He won't get them a SB ring unless the NFL changes the rules after Marcia Brady leaves, to the point that it's touch football.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

I heard on the radio that Dalton is statistically the worst QB in the NFL under pressure. Every QBs stats go down under pressure. The average is a 50% drop in rating while pressured. Dalton drops over 80%.

 

[Drink IRON City]

Just saying, that the STEELERS and ben, probably are on the same page as to why wait. I'm sure its salary cap and what can be afforded this year, VS, salary cap and what can be afforded next year. The deal will get done, just the details are scetchy right now.



Salute the nation

 

[Coryea]

Ben shouldn't be expected to take a big discount, and Bert and Opie's best seasons are on par with Ben's career averages. The cap is supposed to get a bump and I heard by 2016 each team will get around 183 million in tv revenue alone, that's enough to cover the cap alone.

 

[Steelr4evr]

We will win another super bowl or two with Ben or we could spend another 20 years looking for a franchise guy.When i think of all of the guys after Bradshaw i had to endure watching i sure hope they pay the man.

 

[FordFairLane]

Are you serious? 80 million over 5 years? He won't and he should not take that. Ben is entering prime years in his career and could be better than ever in the upcoming seasons. He's matured as a QB and as a person and his skills have in no way shown any signs of erosion. He will not take less than ******* Andy Dalton or Joe Flucco.

When Ben's contract is up he will be past his prime looking down at the end of his career. I am sure some team that's not competing and needs a big name signing to try to coax fans in the door will overpay but to me that is more than a fair deal. Especially when you consider it would not take much for us to keep him until he is 35 or 36 without having to sign him to a long term deal.

 

[Confluence]

If Ben has an average season, for him, signing now or next summer probably won't matter much; yes the cap goes up and it is easier for Steelers, but the total probably increases too.
If Ben has a poor season, better for the team to wait on him.
If Ben has a great season, hooray for us!! Yes he will need more space to sign, but that will be a good problem to have; Steelers have done a great job minimizing this the past few years....

 

[Beaker]

The Bungles QB is not so bad, but they just did the Ratbirds dance.

No they didn't. The Dalton deal is cap/team friendly. It is actually 6 yrs/$96 million with escalators for winning in the playoffs that can raise it to $115 million. The Bengals can actually let him walk after two yrs with only $25 million guaranteed....that's only $12.5 million per year. The contract leaves plenty of cap space to re-sign other players like Burfict and Green. Its not like the flacco contract that buried the ratbirds.

 

[t-man]

WB Beaker, and hopefully, for your teams sake, you're right on those numbers. I don't see him as your starting qb 3 years from now, but that's just a hunch.

Joe

 

[steelhurt]

When Ben's contract is up he will be past his prime looking down at the end of his career. I am sure some team that's not competing and needs a big name signing to try to coax fans in the door will overpay but to me that is more than a fair deal. Especially when you consider it would not take much for us to keep him until he is 35 or 36 without having to sign him to a long term deal.

Past his prime at 33? That's what he will be when the Steelers extend him next season, 33 years old. That is not past his prime but in the heart of it. I can see him being extended 5 additional seasons from the 2015 season if he wants to play that long. I think his best football is still ahead of him.

 

[steelermania]

It sucks to be a pretty good team, with a slightly above average qb. The league is full of truly dreadful qbs, so a team like Cincy, Dallas, or Baltimore is truly afraid of losing their somewhat competent qb, and ending up with someone on the level of every Browns qb since Kosar retired. The Steelers were in this predicament in the early 90's. Sometimes I wonder what might have happened in the 90's if the Steelers had decided early on, that they needed a better qb than Neil to reach the top. I think even the Joe Montana that went to the Chiefs, might have done a better job than what Neil did. Unfortunately, it took them 10 years to figure it out, and Cowher still didn't understand, wanting to draft some lineman instead of Ben. Thank you Rooneys for stepping in.

 

[Steel G]

It sucks to be a pretty good team, with a slightly above average qb. The league is full of truly dreadful qbs, so a team like Cincy, Dallas, or Baltimore is truly afraid of losing their somewhat competent qb, and ending up with someone on the level of every Browns qb since Kosar retired. The Steelers were in this predicament in the early 90's. Sometimes I wonder what might have happened in the 90's if the Steelers had decided early on, that they needed a better qb than Neil to reach the top. I think even the Joe Montana that went to the Chiefs, might have done a better job than what Neil did. Unfortunately, it took them 10 years to figure it out, and Cowher still didn't understand, wanting to draft some lineman instead of Ben. Thank you Rooneys for stepping in.

Wasting 5 years or so on Kordell Stewart didn't help either.

 

[Djfan]

Wasting 5 years or so on Kordell Stewart didn't help either.

So far, Dalton is about as amazing as Kordell, but not as fun to watch.