Roethlisberger Calls It Quits
The end of an era in Pittsburgh
By Thomas Davila
On January 24th, veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger announced that he was calling it quits after spending eighteen seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Roethlisberger, who is 39 years young, began his career in the NFL in 2004 after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
In a statement that was released by Roethlisberger via social media, he said "The journey has been exhilarating, defined by relationships and fueled by a spirit of competition. Yet the time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats and continue to be all that I can be to my wife and children," effectively ending his career in the National Football League.
His retirement from the NFL comes after the Steelers were defeated in the wild card round by the Kansas City Chiefs, 42-21. Roethlisberger openly admitted that his retirement was imminent, but he decided to give one last shot at winning another Lombardi trophy with the Steelers before deciding to retire for good after this season.
Roethlisberger’s retirement comes just 5 days before Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback, Tom Brady, announced his retirement at forty-four years old. Roethlisberger now joins Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, who were his draft-mates in 2004, in the wonderful world of retirement.
According to an article from MSN, the average age for a professional football player to retire is just twenty-seven years old. But players like Roethlisberger, Brady, Manning, Brees and Rivers were well into their thirties or even forties before they decided to retire.
What do professional athletes do after they walk away from the sport they spent years playing? Retired football players and coaches like former Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Cris Collinsworth, Tony Romo and Drew Brees tend to become analysts for whatever football game they are covering.
Other retired football players like Hall of Fame quarterback, Brett Favre, have tried their hand at coaching. In 2012, he became the offensive coordinator at Oak Grove High School in Mississippi. In May 2014, he announced that he would continue to help out at Oak Grove. However, he could no longer be the team’s offensive coordinator.
The question remains if “Big Ben” will follow suit and become an analyst for CBS, ESPN, FOX or NBC, like Aikman, Brees or Romo. He may try his hand at coaching like Favre. One thing is certain: whatever Roethlisberger decides to do, he will still have his fans cheering him on throughout his seventeen year hall-of-fame worthy career in the National Football League.
Ben Roethlisberger might have called it a game; however that does not mean that he has to leave the game he cared deeply about for the last seventeen years.
Many former football players have vowed to leave the sport they spent years playing while only a few, like Joe Montana, have succeeded at not coming back in some capacity. Others… not so much.