Ben Roethlisberger was on 97.3 The Fan this morning with Cook and Poni, talking about his off-season and the NFL draft. When the conversation shifted to the status of his contract extension, Roethlisberger said that extension talks haven’t been significant enough to be brought to his attention.

“I think there’s always a chance, but I don’t know how realistic it is, because there’s so many other big needs, so I don’t know that there’s any real serious talks, if there is, I haven’t been informed of it,” said Roethlisberger. He added, “I think it’s probably just been some small talk, like, let’s talk later, let’s wait to deal, things like that. So, I’m not getting…it’s hard for me to really speculate what they’re doing kind of behind closed doors. It’s nothing that’s been significant enough to be brought to my attention.”

While this shouldn’t come as a surprise, it does add some detail to what Ben’s agent told ESPN a couple weeks ago. Like Steelers GM Kevin Colbert indicated in his press conference yesterday, the surprise gift the team received in salary cap room this off-season made their financial decisions much easier. Extending Roethlisberger would have been much higher on the Steelers agenda had the salary cap not been set so much higher than projected.

Big Ben reiterated today that he wanted to be with the Steelers for the rest of his career, and that he feels he’s got a lot left in the tank. “I feel great, I feel like I’m in great shape…I feel really good. I feel at this rate I could play for quite a few more years. I feel like I could get 5 or 6- 7 more years out of this arm and these legs.

“Ultimately it’s up to the Steelers and the good Lord whatever they want to do. I don’t want to go anywhere obviously, I love it here in Pittsburgh,  this is home for me. I want to finish my career here. So, however that gets done is all that matters to me because I bleed black and gold.”

You can listen to the interview below. Thanks for stopping by and sharing on the webs.