The Pittsburgh Steelers and T.J. Watt continue to discuss his contract status, and it is becoming rockier than both sides initially thought.
The issues? Watt wants to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league after the Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett set the market at $40 million per year.
However, not only is the raw money not the main issue facing the Steelers and Watt, but the guaranteed money and length of the contract are bigger sticking points.
Watt, 30, will turn 31 in October and is coming off a second half of the 2024 season that saw him banged up and unproductive. The Steelers want to have some leverage against the perceived risk of Watt’s contract, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
“Well, people I’ve talked to around the league believe it’s guaranteed money, it’s term length,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “A lot of the details, they get sticky this time of year, especially as you’re leading up to training camp. I talked to somebody with the team who said, ‘Look, these are complicated deals to do, but we are working on it. We want T.J. Watt here.’ There’s not a lot of traction right now as far as a potential trade — although there would certainly be a lot of interest if the Steelers would tap into that.“This is a situation where [Watt] is probably going to be the highest-paid edge rusher in the league when this is all said and done. It just depends on when the Steelers can do it. Typically, they like to do their deals either around training camp or leading into Week 1. So, this is far from over.”
Garrett’s $40 million per year already sets a high bar for the Pittsburgh Steelers to meet when it comes to the next extension for Watt. Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson could top that number, driving the asking price for Watt’s annual gross average and potentially guaranteed money up even more.
The 30-year-old edge rusher remains one of the NFL’s elites. At the annual league meetings last week, general manager Omar Khan said the team hopes to see Watt finish his career with the Steelers.
“I’m not going to get into the contract numbers, but if you’re referring to T.J. [Watt], I assume, I’ll just say that I’m very hopeful that T.J. will finish his career as a Steeler,” Khan said.
He had just 11.5 sacks this past year and dealt with multiple injuries throughout the season. Following the season, Watt noted he wanted to stay with the Steelers.
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