It would go to this POC....

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Ben Roethlisberger’s Profile at Pro-Football-Reference

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Ben Roethlisberger @ Jockbio.com

Ben signed a whopper before the ’08 season.  Eight years at $102 million, of which $33.2 million was guaranteed.  Yowza!  He’s worth it, though.  He showed his appreciation by guiding the Steelers to another Super Bowl.  Details on the yearly incentives are below:

2009 - $4.75 million (+ $3 million roster bonus)

2010 - $8.05 million

2011 - $11.6 million

2012 - $11.6 million

2013 - $11.6 million

2014 - $11.6 million

2015 - $12.1 million

2016 - Free Agent

*Steelers brass also wisely included a "no idiot" clause, making some of the bonus portions of this contract recoverable if Ben decides he doesn't want to wear a helmet while riding his motorcycle again.

Wonderboy

Alright, let’s get the ass-kissing out of the way for Ben the football player.  Ben looks like a modern combo of John Elway and Joe Montana.   He is 27 years old with two Super Bowl Championships under him.  He has a super-natural ability to lead his team to victory.  At 23, he was the youngest signal caller to ever win a Super Bowl (XL in ’05-’06 season).  Just incredible.  In five seasons, he holds many of the Steelers QB records and is well on pace to crush them all.  Above all else, he is a likable guy, and it’s difficult to detect even a shred of elitism from his direction.  He is perfect for the Steelers organization, and it’s a good bet that he’s one of the few guys to only play for one team in his career.

Wake up from Reality

As for Ben the fantasy football player, things are not quite so rosy.  Besides the 2007 anomaly (more on that below), Ben is not more than a back-up QB.  Since Mike Tomlin arrived on the scene in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have ranked 20th (2008) and 31st (2007) in pass attempts.  Furthermore, because the Steelers are perennially among the stoutest defenses in the NFL, Ben will lose attempts when games are out of reach.  1/4th of their games are vs. division rivals Cleveland and Cincinnati – consistent losers.

Back to the 2007 anomaly…  Simply put, it won’t happen again.  The guy attempted 404 passes, of which 32 went for scores for a 7.9% TD to Attempt ratio.  To put that into perspective, let’s look at active QB career bests (minimum 400 attempts) and their follow-up seasons:

Of the above QBs, only Favre was able to come close to his all-time TD% in the follow-up season.  Chances are, Ben won't either.

2009 Fantasy Outlook

Not much is changing in Pittsburgh this coming season.  They will keep a nice balance between their air and ground games, and their defense unit remains intact.  The good news is this… since he sunk back down to his usual career numbers in 2008, his draft position will reflect that.  We don’t believe he will ever toss 32 scores again in this type of an offense (he’s certainly capable of it in the right scheme, though), but there is always potential for him to outperform his career usual of TDs in the high teens.  Santonio Holmes is coming off a Super Bowl MVP award and will be in his 4th year.  Hines Ward is back, and given the upside, we think Ben should be among the first backup QBs selected in the draft.