Pittsburgh Steelers fans had reservations about the team's decision to hand T.J. Watt a three-year, $123 million contract extension during the 2025 offseason. Watt's new deal made him the highest-paid defender in NFL history (before he was leapfrogged by Micah Parsons a few months later). Unfortunately, we were right to fear Watt's new deal.
It's not that Watt has been bad; it's that he's been... well, quiet. And at $41 million per season, the Steelers can't afford to get anything but All-Pro-level performances.
With ten days to prepare for a home game against the Green Bay Packers with all eyes watching on Sunday Night Football, Watt managed just three pressures on 33 pass rush snaps, per Next Gen Stats. Watt also failed to record a sack or a tackle for a loss in Week 8.
If this were just one quiet game, we wouldn't be sounding the alarm. Sadly, what the team thought would be the golden ticket to the Steelers' defense has been just another face in the crowd.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should already regret T.J. Watt's massive contract extension
Let's give credit where credit is due: T.J. Watt is drawing significant attention from opposing offenses. The 2021 Defensive Player of the Year ranks near the top of the league in chips and double teams. But it's what he's doing when drawing the concerning attention.
Quite frankly, Watt has not been able to overcome the added attention and stack meaningful performances. The Steelers' 2017 first-round pick has gone two straight games without a sack and has just one combined sack in his last four games.
Meanwhile, Watt, who typically specializes in creating splash plays, has just one forced fumble through seven games while collecting a mere five tackles for a loss on the season.
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It's fair to categorize Watt's performance as 'above average' in respect to his position around the league. But for the money the Steelers are handing him, this isn't good enough. He needs to be elite.
Unfortunately, it looks like those days may already be behind him. At 31 years old, Watt suddenly looks like a shell of his former self. He's lost a step when it comes to getting after the quarterback, and his inability to generate quick and consistent pressure isn't doing a struggling defense any favors.
What's worse is that the Steelers seem determined to run the aging edge rusher into the ground by the end of the season. Watt has already logged 408 defensive snaps in his first seven games and is on pace to see a career high of 990 defensive snaps, per Pro Football Reference. With Nick Herbig being underutilized and not seeing the field enough, there's no reason for this.
The inability to keep Watt fresh is only going to hurt his performance as the season goes on. We can't pin the Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive struggles on T.J. Watt, but it's clear that he has not been the same dominant player he once was. This already looks like a bad contract for the NFL's most expensive defense.