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Ben Roethlisberger is back to throwing after elbow surgery

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) throws the ball during an NFL football practice, Tuesday, May 21, 2019, in Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger received pointed criticism from former teammates Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell among others during the offseason, both of whom took shots at Roethlisberger's leadership skills. Roethlisberger says the criticism bothered him but he's eager to move forward.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is throwing again five months after elbow surgery. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Big bearded Ben is back to throwing five months after he was shut down for the season due to an elbow injury.

The Pittsburgh Steelers shared a short clip of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — though it’s easy to miss the identity at first — throwing a football at the Pittsburgh Sports Performance Center on Saturday.

Roethlisberger, 37, had surgery on his right elbow in late September after suffering a non-contact injury to it during a Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks. Per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, he was scheduled to have a “significant check-up” on the elbow Friday in Los Angeles.

Head coach Mike Tomlin said on ESPN’s “First Take” last week he has “no hesitation” the veteran would be ready to return to his starting role in 2020.

"This guy is the ultimate competitor," Tomlin said on First Take. "He's dropped the gauntlet down, he's made a statement that he's coming back — and I look forward to watching him answer that challenge."

General manager Kevin Colbert has also been optimistic. Via ESPN:

"We're just really focused on where Ben is at this point," Colbert told local media recently. "Unfortunately, he had a season-ending injury that we think he can and will recover from moving forward. It's just a wait-and-see.

"He had an injury to his right arm, but other than that, he's relatively healthy. We're not minimizing the right arm injury to a right arm quarterback, but we don't think he's at the end of the road."

It will be Roethlisberger’s 17th season in Pittsburgh. The Steelers remained in playoff contention for the entire season while going back and forth between quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. The Black and Yellow will be happy to have their star back.

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