INDIANAPOLIS -- The Steelers had been reluctant to put any kind of timeline on Ben Roethlisberger's return to their lineup.
Apparently, the fact he was able to throw a football -- even softly -- last week in Los Angeles has changed that. General manager Kevin Colbert said Tuesday here at the NFL Scouting Combine the Steelers' plan is for Roethlisberger to be ready for the start of the regular season in September.
"We want to have Ben ready for game 1, whenever that is," Colbert said. "A guy like Ben, you might have to hold him back if he's a little too aggressive. That’s something the docs will figure out."
But that has been the idea for Roethlisberger throughout the rehab process on his surgically repaired right elbow.
"That’s everybody’s goal, to have Ben Roethlisberger, whenever game 1 is, to be our starting quarterback," Colbert said. "That is what everybody has been thinking all along."
Roethlisberger's checkup in Los Angeles late last week went better than even the Steelers expected and that gives the team even more optimism about the future of their soon-to-be 38-year-old quarterback.
In fact, Colbert said the Steelers feel Roethlisberger could be even better than he was at the start of the 2019 season following surgery on his elbow last September.
"He didn’t play last season so his body, the rest of his body, got the year off," Colbert said. "I think that’s part of it. Anytime you repair anything with any kind of surgery, nobody knows at what point, you know when it happened, but what were the symptoms? Was his arm as strong as it had been? Who knows? I’m just optimistic that it could be better."
Roethlisberger has remained in Los Angeles to continue working with throwing coaches after his checkup with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed the surgery on his elbow and cleared him to resume workouts.
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 22, 2020
Roethlisberger was expected to begin throwing smaller things than a football initially, but obviously progressed beyond that.
"It was encouraging to me because it was surprising," Colbert said. "When I saw it, I was like, ‘Great, we don’t play until September, remind him of that.’ Sometimes you have to slow him down a little bit. I think Ben just wanted to show that. It was encouraging. That’s why I’m optimistic."
Roethlisberger played just six quarters in 2019 before being shut down with the elbow injury. He has two years remaining on his current contract and counts $33.5 million against the team's salary cap in 2020 and both he and the Steelers would like to see him finish out that deal.
That could mean Mike Tomlin manages Roethlisberger's practice time even more so than he has done in recent years. Roethlisberger typically works a full day at training camp, a partial practice the second day and then takes the third day off from throwing. In the regular season, Tomlin has regularly given his quarterback Wednesday's off from throwing.
It's unlikely that Roethlisberger will take part in OTAs or minicamp, but he should be ready to resume practicing by training camp. Whether he sees any time in the preseason remains to be seen, but he's played sparingly in the preseason the past several years as it is.
"I don’t know how we’ll have to manage him," Colbert said. "Nobody knows how we’ll have to manage him going forward. We don’t know. It can go either way. I’m optimistic it will go the right way."
