3 bad Steelers contracts that have us shaking our heads
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers handed out some iffy contracts in recent years. Here are three deals that are hard for fans to get behind.
Money was extremely tight for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021, but as Kevin Colbert has shown us time and again, there are ways of making up for that. Because of the lowered salary cap due to the pandemic, the team made up for some of this lost money by handing out numerous voidable-year contracts – essentially, pushing unusable money into the future that will count against the cap.
If not for a few bad contacts the team handed out over the past two offseasons, Pittsburgh may not have had to do any of this. Here are three Steelers contracts that I have us shaking our heads early in the 2021 season:
Steelers FB Derek Watt
Contract: 3-years, $9.75 million
Pittsburgh’s unwillingness to use Derek Watt on offense is a topic that has been circulating around Twitter as of late. Through two games, the veteran fullback has played just 4 offensive snaps out of a possible 114 (3.5 percent), according to Pro Football Reference.
This number is far too low for the second most expensive fullback in the NFL. I questioned Colbert’s motive when he signed Watt to a 3-year, $9.75 million deal last offseason. In 2020, Watt was used sparingly on offense and wasn’t very good when he did play. This year, he appears to be an even bigger waste of money.
Even though he’s a capable special teams player, Watt has done almost nothing to warrant this lucrative contract. If the Steelers don’t start using him on the offensive side of the ball, they will never come close to getting their money’s worth out of him. This is a deal fans would like to have back.