Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger opted out of the Pro Bowl as a precaution and will not need offseason knee surgery, according to his agent.

“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,” agent Ryan Tollner said in an email to ESPN.com on Friday night. “His knee will not require surgery and he looks forward to an otherwise healthy offseason to improve with his teammates.”

Roethlisberger, who made his third Pro Bowl and shared the NFL passing title with New Orleans’ Drew Brees, posted his best season as a pro in 2014, throwing for 4,952 yards with 32 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. He also had a career-best 103.3 quarterback rating.

Brees will replace Roethlisberger in the Pro Bowl, which will be played Jan. 25, in Glendale, Ariz., site of the Super Bowl.

Roethlisberger hurt his neck in the Steelers’ 30-17 wild-card playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Saturday night and was out three plays before returning to the game.

Two days after the loss, coach Mike Tomlin said Roethlisberger might need minor surgery to clean up his knee, but apparently he will just rest it before starting offseason training.

With one year remaining on the eight-year, $102 million contract he signed in 2008, Roethlisberger is ready to discuss his next deal.

Several quarterbacks — Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears, Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens, Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions, Andy Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals and Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers — have signed lucrative deals in the past two years that pay an average annual salary that exceeds Roethlisberger’s scheduled 2015 salary of $11.6 million.

Roethlisberger turns 33 in March and his salary cap figure is over $18.3 million.

“Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later,” Roethlisberger said earlier this week regarding the status of contract negotiations.