Pittsburgh Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt has made news this offseason, but for the wrong reason.
Watt will enter the final season of his four-year, $112.011 million deal in 2025, and extension talks have reportedly not gone well when they've happened at all.
Since joining the league in 2017, he's averaging 15.2 sacks per season, 65 tackles with 32 for loss and 32 QB hits. Again, those are all averages. Per season.
And he's due a huge payday because of those numbers. But Watt will turn 31 in mid-October, and it's possible Pittsburgh is leery of paying someone that age $40-plus million per season, which is what someone with Watt's numbers demands.
Or is there another issue?
Bleacher Report's James Palmer thinks there might be a performance issue at play here for the team.
"The issue with this is a big swing with Aaron Rodgers. They know how important the defense is gonna be, they know they need T.J. Watt, and a deal is likely going to get done," Palmer said. "But the Steelers' argument is this: that Watt and the defense kind of fell off a little bit the back end of last year."
The Steelers suffered a defensive breakdown last season toward the end of the year, as the team lost its final five games, including a 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round.
Watt failed to register a sack in the season's final three games and finished the year with 11.5. That's the lowest total of his career when he's played at least 16 games.
"He's had some injuries," Palmer stated. "He's battled through them. He's going to be 31 years old. Do you give $100 million guaranteed to somebody like that? I think that's where this battle's going to happen, but I think a deal is going to end up happening."