Ben Roethlisberger will not need knee surgery, after all.
That's at least the prognosis from the quarterback's agent, Ryan Tollner, who wrote the following in an email to ESPN.com on Friday:
"Ben was instructed by team doctors to avoid strenuous activity due to inflammation in his knee, thus he will not play in the Pro Bowl," Tollner said. "His knee will not require surgery and he looks forward to an otherwise healthy offseason to improve with his teammates."
If this ends up being true, this will be a tremendous sigh of relief for the Steelers and Roethlisberger, especially now that both should be entering into contract talks soon.
Roethlisberger is just a year older than Jay Cutler and should be commanding much more money on the open market. A clean bill of health will only add to that price tag.
Roethlisberger's evasiveness and mobility are the sweeteners on a refined skillset that led the veteran to one of his best career seasons in 2014.
If Pittsburgh hopes to repeat as division champions in 2015, a healthy and well-rested knee will be crucial.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast previews the Divisional Round and ranks the eight remaining quarterbacks in the playoffs. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
