Just days after Maxx Crosby reset the edge rusher market, Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett just did it again. Garrett will be paid $40 million per year with his new extension with the Browns, and that has ripple effects for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
T.J. Watt wants a new deal, but the new trends on the market could be pushing the Steelers further up in that range. He could try to equal or even surpass Garrett’s contract, but even on the low end of the deal, it will come in at around $38 million per year.
All of that is compounded by the fact Watt is 30 years old and will only age the further he goes along. When the Steelers are a true contender again, will Watt elite and still make a difference for the team?
This all echoes what his brother, J.J. Watt, said late last week on the Pat McAfee Show. The Steelers might have missed their window.
“The earlier you get the deal done, the better deal you get. That’s just a fact,” Watt said on the Pat McAfee Show Thursday. “That’s why, my personal belief, they should have done it last year because I think there was a hometown discount to be had last year. But now the longer you wait this year, you’ve got Micah [Parsons] coming up. Like you said, you got Aidan Hutchinson, you got Myles [Garrett]. These guys are getting new deals. That number’s gonna inch closer to four in front of than threes. So you’re gonna want to get that done earlier rather than later because the price isn’t going down.”
The Steelers have all the cap space to do a massive deal, but Watt is 30 years old and showed signs of decline as the season wore along last year. A big deal like this with Watt aging could be a bit more risky. It depends on where his game goes from here on out, but with Watt commanding more help than ever from offenses; it seems likely the Steelers will re-sign him to build around him as their superstar.
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