The Pittsburgh Steelers and T.J. Watt still do not have a long-term contract deal. Watt was held out of minicamp, and while head coach Mike Tomlin never expressed any concern about his future, this could be rockier than the team intended it to be.
Former Super Bowl Champion Chris Long believes the Steelers need to pay Watt what he is worth to keep one of the team’s ‘iconic players’ in a Steelers uniform his entire career.
“T.J. Watt’s supposed to retire a Steeler,” Long said on ‘The Rich Eisen Show’. “He’s just one of those iconic players that, to me, and this is just a ‘Joe Fan’ take, that No. 90 right there in black and yellow, to me that’s how he’s supposed to come in and that’s how he’s supposed to go out. It would be a real shame if he wasn’t able to go out a Steelers because he didn’t get paid what he was deserved to be paid.”
Tomlin is confident that the team will reach a deal with star outside linebackerWatt, but added he is unsure of exactly when or if he will show up to training camp if a new deal is not inked by that point.
“I’m not going to get into speculation there,” Tomlin said. “You guys know what negotiations is about; I’m optimistic we’re going to get things done because we got two sides that want things done. When that’s going to occur, I don’t know.”
Watt has one year left on his contract, but after Myles Garrett landed a $40 million per year contract, things became sticky for the Steelers. They will have to get near that amount, in money per year and guaranteed money, for the deal to ultimately get done.