Brace yourself for the longest stare down we've seen; this could get ugly. It's no secret that T.J. Watt is seeking a contract extension, and so far, there has been no movement from the Pittsburgh Steelers. After Watt skipped OTAs last week, Dianna Russini of The Athletic is now reporting that the All-Pro edge rusher is not expected to attend mandatory minicamp.
Watt is entering the final year of a four-year $112 million contract he signed in 2021. At the time, it was the largest contract ever awarded to a defensive player. Now he's looking to repeat history, and just like last time, this could drag on for what seems like ages.
In the summer of 2021, Watt operated under a 'hold-in'. Coming off a 2020 season in which he led the NFL with 15 sacks, Watt sat out of summer activities before showing up to Steelers training camp but electing to only do individual drills. Watt never saw any action in team sessions during camp or the preseason, and it was just days before the Week 1 opener when he finally marched into the facility and inked his deal.
We've gone down this path before, but there's good news: the last time this happened, Watt went on to tie Michael Strahan for the all-time single-season sack record en route to earning AP Defensive Player of the Year honors.
But Watt was 27 then. This time around, he'll turn 31 early in the season and is coming off an underwhelming statistical campaign (by his standards) with just 11.5 sacks in 17 games.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will suffer for being late to the party with T.J. Watt's extension
Eventually, we know a contract extension is going to get done. T.J. Watt has a chance to go down as a top-five player in the history of one of the NFL's best franchises, and it would be completely out of character for Art Rooney II and the Pittsburgh Steelers to send him packing.
Recently, I wrote about how it's possible for the Steelers to hold the franchise tag over Watt in a means of exercising their control of his contract status, but this would be an awful PR move for a team that needs to keep its best players happy. Sadly, the Steelers are going to feel the hole in their pocket after being late to the the Steelers canparty with Watt's extension.
If Omar Khan and the front office wanted to avoid this nightmare during the 2025 offseason, the Steelers would have been wise to make Watt an offer they couldn't refuse early in the year.
To become the highest-paid edge rusher at the beginning of the offseason (in terms of yearly value), all Pittsburgh would have had to do is offer Watt a contract north of $36 million per season. This would have broken the record for average annual earnings from a defensive player and would have been the appeasing move they needed to keep Watt under contract.
Unfortunately, Myles Garrett broke the bank before the Steelers could get a deal done. The Cleveland Browns handed Garrett a $160 million contract worth $40 million per season with $88.8 million fully guaranteed. This stung at the time, and we are starting to feel the aftermath of it now.
Watt knows his value. He knows that, at least on paper, he's been more productive than Myles Garrett in practically every category since they entered the league together in 2017. So why would he settle for less?
It's simple: the Steelers will have to break the bank to sign Watt and pay him market value, which will likely surpass Garrett's record-setting numbers.
Now it's just a waiting game to see how long this thing will drag on. Brace yourselves for a rocky offseason between T.J. Watt and the Pittsburgh Steelers' front office.