The Facts: To the surprise of no one who has spent any amount of time at Steelers headquarters, Roethlisberger is "leaning towards" returning to play in 2017. Roethlisberger spoke at the Ignite Men's Impact Weekend conference at Liberty University Friday and was asked if he's going to play in 2017. "I'm leaning towards it," Roethlisberger replied.
Diehards Line:This after Roethlisberger said on his radio show back in January that he had to think about whether or not he was going to play in 2017. But nobody from the team’s front office necessarily believed Roethlisberger would not play. And they have been in pretty consistent contact with their star quarterback, who turned 35 in March. As General Manager Kevin Colbert said, the Steelers do have to keep an eye on their long-term quarterback outlook because of Roethlisberger’s age and his statements, but they aren’t going to be pressed into taking a potential replacement in this year’s draft. And fantasy owners can expect the leader of one of the NFL's most prolific fantasy offenses to be right where they need him to be this fall: Under center for the Steelers.