So here's an interesting question. Should they trade Ben? Go ahead and get your 1st and 4th or 2nd and 5th or whatever you can get for him, get that salary off the books, and use the picks to build the youth?
Because look at it this way. The defensive backfield needs to be completely re-vamped over the next 3-4 years. Ike, Troy and Clark will all be retired. We need an ILB who can captain the D.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that the young o-line can gel, that Bell is a decent halfback and that Heath can at least get you two more seasons before he's also done.
By the time the D is re-vamped, Ben is 35. The window for the Steelers championship runs with Ben at QB has closed. It's past. The only question is whether we watch him fart around there for four more years and get nothing out of it but frustrated seasons and depressed fans or whether they man up and cut him loose.
We did this in the early 80s. Held onto Bradshaw, hoping he was coming back from injury after injury. Passed on Dan Marino in the draft.
Passed. On. Pittsburgh. Native. Dan. Marino. (Christ, still pisses me off.)
If we don't cut Ben loose we could see another decade of futility (5 with Ben, 5 finding another franchise QB.) Just ask FMT what it's like to stare at your team sucking ass for year after year after year after year, waiting for them to be good again. Better yet, ask Kave.
