Few players, even in the long and storied history of the Pittsburgh Steelers, have been as productive and impactful as T.J. Watt has been during the first eight seasons of his career. The four-time All Pro and 2021 Defensive Player of the Year has been worth every penny of the four-year, $112 million contract he signed in 2021.
Now that he is entering the final season of that extension, he was absent during mandatory minicamp as he seeks a third contract with the team. Negotiations are still ongoing, but Bleacher Report's James Palmer recently said that the final number could exceed that of Cleveland Browns' edge rusher Myles Garrett's $40 million per season.
On his NFL Insider Notebook show, Palmer had this to say.
"I'm hearing there's a chance (T.J.) Watt gets past $40 (million a year). He has every right to ask for it. I've talked on here a lot about the comparisons between him and Myles Garrett. The numbers are almost identical in every aspect in terms of superlatives and in terms of numbers. and they came in the same draft class. I mean, he has the right to try and get that."
Pittsburgh Steelers' T.J. Watt seems to want to beat out rival Myles Garrett once again
The debate over who is the true top defender in the AFC North has been raging for years now. Regardless of which side of the coin you land on, both Watt and Garrett have put in the work and earned the accolades that justify their massive salary demands.
Garrett had the advantage of leveraging his position as the Browns' only premium player to get his massive four-year, $160 million contract this offseason. Because the Steelers were not proactive when it comes to Watt's final season under contract, they have now put themselves in the position they are today.
Paying a pass rusher on the wrong side of 30 $40 million a season is highly unlikely to work out, even if that player is the caliber of Watt. We already saw him decline in some aspects in 2024, and his usage in Teryl Austin's defense isn't exactly helping him stay as productive as he once was.
It's a foregone conclusion that Pittsburgh will ultimately get a deal done with their franchise star, but it will no longer be the bargain it was over the first eight seasons of his tenure.
While I wouldn't count out a return to form for the Steelers' all-time sack leader in 2025, expecting him to continue being a perennial DPOY candidate on his next contract is too tall a task, even for a future Hall of Famer like Watt.