T.J. Watt has been away from the Pittsburgh Steelers this week while he waits for his new deal.
While his decision to skip the team’s voluntary workouts could be due to a number of reasons, it could also be a sign of what’s to come amid negotiations for a deal that may very well make him the highest-paid defender in football.
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Watt is currently set to enter the final year of his four-year, $112 million extension with the Steelers this fall. That will pay him just more than $21 million, which is roughly half of what the market is now set at for a pass rusher. Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett makes $40 million per season on his contract, which is the largest defensive deal in the league. It’s unclear if Watt will surpass that deal, but he’s clearly proven himself as an elite defender throughout his eight seasons in the league.
Watt has led the NFL in sacks three times, including in 2021 when he matched the league record with 22.5 sacks. Watt was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year that season. He’s led the league in forced fumbles twice, too, and he has 108 sacks in his career.
Though last season was a bit of a down year for him — he had 61 total tackles and 11.5 sacks, which were his worst numbers in a complete season since his rookie campaign — Watt is still one of the best defenders in the league even as he is set to turn 31 this fall.
Again, Watt’s reasoning for skipping OTAs this week are not known. It’s very possible that it’s not contract-related whatsoever. But with a contract issue ongoing, it could absolutely become an issue in the weeks and months to come if it’s not solved soon.
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Thankfully, though, it doesn’t sound like either side wants to move on here.
“I’m confident he’s not going anywhere,” Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith said on the NFL Network earlier this month.
“I know that he loves being here. He loves being in Pittsburgh and the city of Pittsburgh loves him. So I know that they’re going to do whatever they can to get a deal done, hopefully sooner than later because everyone knows he’s a generational talent, generational player. So we all know that he wants to be in this building.”
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