They will hang on to him for the forseeable future based on his present verbal committment to them to change his lifestyle going forward. But they are aware that talk is cheap and they apparently are expecting to see some signs from Ben that he is finally waking up to the fact that from those to whom much has been given, including face of the franchise contracts, much is expected off as well as on the field. According to Peter King Ben is finally ascared...which I had a feeling the Rooney's deliberately set out to do by not jumping to his defense or trying to assist in any coverup or feather smoothing but rather letting perceptions fester including the possibility he could be traded and will be if he doesn't clean up his act. Supposedly he's already signed off on whatever punishment is meted out including counseling.
While the Rooney's wanted to handle the suspension themselves it is now reported Goodell will act as soon as tomorrow after reading the police reports (probably because it's also clear and the DA has confirmed that Ben could have been charged with supplying alcohol to a minor and wasn't only because the DA didn't want to charge the victim herself with a misdemeanor or compel her to testify since her only reason for requesting that the prosecution not go forward was to avoid the media spotlight and put the entire incident behind her).
Will be interesting to see if Goodell goes beyond the 4 game limit the team would have faced or if he's just going to take this route to establish a precedent for Ben being under his broader jurisdiction going forward...which includes the potential to suspend you for a lot longer in the event another incident takes place.
Ben Roethlisberger, NFL draft, Bryan Bulaga, Tim Tebow, more - Peter King - SI.com
