The Pittsburgh Steelers have had quite the offseason, and depending on who you ask, this team might have had one of the best offseasons in the NFL, but others could think the complete opposite. If nothing else, the Steelers have been plenty good enough to finish with a winning record nearly every season, but a Super Bowl-contending team has evaded the franchise for what feels like forever.
And with that come some brutal realities that the team will soon have to face. Many of their key foundational players are trending in the wrong direction and are simply declining. This happens to every player, as Father Time is undefeated, but that does not make the reality any easier to accept.
Recently, the Steelers were given a reminder of this reality with one of their formely elite players.
Pittsburgh Steelers might have one of the worst contracts in the NFL ahead of 2026
In Bleacher Report, Brad Gagnon listed TJ Watt's contract as the fifth-worst in the NFL for the 2026 season:
"The Contract: 3 years, $123 million with $108 million guaranteed (signed in 2025)
The Problem: The 31-year-old's sack numbers have plummeted from 19 in 2023 to 11.5 in 2024 to seven in 2025. This was his first relatively full non-All-Pro season since 2018, indicating that a decline is well underway.
The Kicker: Even if the Steelers move on after the 2027 campaign, Watt will have cost the team $94 million in salary and dead-cap charges for just two seasons of work. "
TJ Watt has been an awesome player for 10 years now, and it's likely that he ends up in the Hall of Fame one day. At the same time, Watt is not nearly the player he used to be, but his contract says otherwise. The mistake the Steelers made here with this latest contract extension is that the front office essentially rewarded Watt because of what he did for the franchise.
Typically, when teams get big-time extensions done for young players, they're rewarding that player for what they believe is to come. It's not always smart to further extend an aging player, as a decline becomes more likely.
Watt is trending in that direction. However, his contract is paying him $41 million per season, which is the 13th-richest in the NFL on a per-year basis, which includes quarterbacks. It was a sensational payday for Watt, but an unnecessary one for the front office to make.
As Gagnon notes, the 2025 season was definitely one of the weaker ones that Watt has had. He finished with under 10 sacks for just the third time in his career and was left without any sort of All-Pro nod for the fourth time in his career. He'll turn 32 years old during the season, which could bring an even bigger decline.
A further decline might also be a guarantee, unfortunately. Watt has played under 80 percent of the available snaps on defense just once in his career, so he doesn't come off the field a ton. He's also typically played with a high motor, which is evidenced in how much he's been able to fill up the stat sheet over his career.
The contract itself is flat-out bad, too. His cap hit was just under $23.5 million in 2025, but it's now going to balloon to $42 million for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Typically, we don't see that large of a cap hit for non-quarterbacks, and with the Steelers having recently paid Nick Herbig, it's clear that Watt's time with the Steelers is dwindling.
The good news here is that just about every other NFL team has a 'bad' contract on its roster, but at the same time, that doesn't excuse the Steelers from making this mistake. What should have likely happened is that the Steelers should have traded Watt before a new deal got signed. His trade value would have been a bit higher than it is now.
It feels like the Steelers are stuck paying Watt top dollar for what only appears to be good production at this point. With a new coaching staff in town, there might be a chance that Watt can turn back the clock and enjoy some type of high-end season in 2026. Given the overall state of the roster, though, it's not very likely that Pittsburgh would accomplish anything more than a Wild Card seed and a first-round exit, which has been the standard for a while.
The once-great Watt is still a good player, but his contract is flat-out bad.
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