PITTSBURGH – Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is throwing a football again, and that’s great news for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers posted a video last month of Roethlisberger throwing for the first time since his Week 2 elbow injury ended his season. While it’s a good first step to his return to the field, there’s still a long way to go before Roethlisberger plays in a game.

Roethlisberger isn’t the only Steelers quarterback working back from surgery. Mason Rudolph, who helped handle starting duties after Roethlisberger’s injury, had surgery to repair the sternoclavicular joint in his left shoulder following a dislocation sustained Week 16 against the Jets. Rudolph has been given the green light from doctors and also recently resumed throwing, according to a source.

Best of NFL Nation

• How Brandon Staley lost his team • Is it safe to trust Buffalo? • How Juszczyk redefined FB position • Titans embrace spoiler role • How Packers’ defense has regressed

While Roethlisberger continues to work his way back from the elbow surgery, Rudolph is expected to take the bulk of the first-team reps through minicamp, OTAs and the early goings of training camp. That’s a big benefit to the third-year quarterback, who struggled at times in 2019. Halfway through his rookie contract, Rudolph will now have another opportunity to prove himself to Steelers brass in the offseason and training camp.

Some questions about Roethlisberger’s progress and expectations will be answered when the Steelers begin the offseason program in about two months, but until then, here’s what we know – and don’t know – about Roethlisberger’s surgery, recovery and what’s next.

When was Roethlisberger injured?

The question seems easy enough, but we don’t know exactly how long Roethlisberger dealt with the elbow pain before he exited the field at halftime of the Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Rudolph told reporters Roethlisberger disclosed to him after the Week 1 loss that he was experiencing some pain, while longtime teammate Maurkice Pouncey told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Roethlisberger had been dealing with elbow soreness “for the last few years.” The Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin were each fined during the season for failing to list Roethlisberger on the injury report leading up to the Week 2 game.

What kind of surgery did Roethlisberger have?

We don’t know specifics, only that the Sept. 23 surgery performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles was to repair the elbow in his throwing arm. General manager Kevin Colbert was asked directly two weeks ago if it was Tommy John surgery, and Colbert didn’t comment. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported in December that Roethlisberger’s surgery was to reattach three tendons in his elbow.

What’s his timeline?

Again, the Steelers are being coy on specifics, saying at the combine the top priority is to have Roethlisberger ready by the season opener. Tomlin said on “First Take” in February he had “no hesitation” his quarterback would be ready by Week 1. Roethlisberger appears to be ahead of schedule, though, based on the video posted to Twitter of him throwing a football in a gym on Feb. 22.

When will we see Roethlisberger throw full speed?

Colbert cautioned that the toughest part of Roethlisberger’s recovery would be exercising patience, and acknowledged the team might have to hold him back from being too aggressive in rehab. Roethlisberger already skipped throwing a tennis ball, according to reporting by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ron Cook, and progressed directly to throwing a football. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be throwing game speed in offseason workouts or even in the early weeks of training camp.

So the elbow is on its way back, but what about the rest of Roethlisberger?

It’s safe to say the 38-year old isn’t in playing shape right now, but Colbert isn’t concerned about the quarterback’s ability to get back to his playing weight. “His physical shape is fine,” Colbert said. “In any offseason, we don’t see our players all the time – 90 percent of them aren’t in the building. So we don’t know where they are. We’ll see where they are when they come back into the later phase of the offseason program. But I never worry about a player’s physical appearance in the offseason.” Colbert also added that while he isn’t concerned about Roethlisberger’s ability to in game shape, it can be hard to readjust to the speed of an actual game.

“I think you miss real timing,” Colbert said. “He’ll have different players this year in 2020 than he started 2019 with. So that could change.”

Can Roethlisberger really be a ‘better Ben’ after the surgery?

Sure, as much as he can be a worse Ben after the surgery. But Colbert doesn’t choose his words lightly and was deliberate in saying he believes Roethlisberger has a good chance to be even better. He said it as many as five times in his 15-minute podium session at the NFL combine. Off the podium, he reiterated the point two more times.

“First of all, the wear and tear – he didn’t play football,” Colbert said. “There’s a certain amount of rust that builds up, so you can look at it that way, as well, but physically, he didn’t play a season of NFL football.

“Physically, he should be better. The arm, who knows? His arm might be stronger coming out of this surgery. Again, you never know the extent of an injury when it happens. When it happens, it happens. But how long was it bothering him without him even knowing it? So right now, we know where it is, and we are optimistic that he might be better.”

Roethlisberger also said as much in a Christmas post on Twitter.