T.J. Watt, EDGE
The last significant contract restructure we could see during the 2024 offseason is that of T.J. Watt. The All-Pro edge defender became the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL during the 2021 offseason. As much as they spent on Watt, this proved to be a worthwhile investment, as he went on to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors right after receiving his deal.
Watt has been a menace when healthy, and there's no question that he's the most valuable asset on the Steelers roster. But after seeing manageable cap numbers in the first two years of his four-year, $112 million deal, Watt is now set to cost the team over $30 million in cap space over each of the next two seasons.
To be honest, this number is easier for me to stomach than the $22 million cap numbers for both Heyward and Fitzpatrick, as Watt's importance to the team is on another level. However, this is still a number that Pittsburgh would like to decrease for the upcoming season to give themselves more cap space to work with this year.
Restructuring T.J. Watt's contract is something that has been talked about for a year. Now the Steelers could be running into some financial issues, and they may have no choice but to restructure his deal in an effort to free up additional cap space in 2024.
All salary cap and contract numbers courtesy of Over the Cap.