Alongside Cam Heyward, nobody has been the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ franchise in recent years more than T.J. Watt. He has just one year remaining on his contract and his annual salary is lagging significantly behind the top of the market for pass rushers.
Extending him seems like the obvious path forward with Watt 30 years old and still one of the best pass rushers in the league, but not everybody shares that opinion. Patrick Rooney Jr., while not a member of the Steelers organization in any official capacity, is a member of the family that has owned the Steelers since their inception in 1933. You can count him among those _not_ in favor of extending Watt.
“T.J is a great player, great Steeler. Insane to pay him anything right now. Absolutely insane. He’s 31 years old,” Rooney said via [Palm Beach Kennel Club on X](https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1nAJEgLroZRKL). “But again, if you’re going all-in this year, then you’re gonna have to re-sign him. But again, you’re making moves right now that you’re trying to do something for this year. That, to me, based on anything you’ve seen in the last several years, just doesn’t make sense.”
Watt is still 30 years old until October, but he will play the majority of this season at 31. Rooney’s point isn’t necessarily about Watt’s impending decline this season, but rather a commentary on the Steelers’ overall strategy of trying to maximize their current window when they have consistently fallen short of playoff success for almost a decade.
It’s a fair criticism to an extent but ignores all the other work that has already been done to maximize the current window. If the Steelers hadn’t traded for DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey and Jonnu Smith, or if they hadn’t signed Aaron Rodgers, then Rooney’s point would make more sense. But they have already committed themselves to taking a step forward toward competing in 2025. Failing to pay Watt and risking a holdout in 2025 would put their entire 2025 strategy at risk.
From a salary cap and cash perspective, they can’t afford to _not_ pay Watt. The Steelers have been on the edge of their [required three-year cash spend minimums](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/05/steelers-unlikely-to-be-cashed-out-for-2025-season-based-on-history/) by the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement and his projected contract would put them in a much more comfortable territory. Even if a multi-year deal may see Watt’s decline at 33 or 34 years old, it’s well worth it for the next few seasons of high-level play.