It seemed to outsiders that Pittsburgh Steelers star pass-rusher T.J. Watt was sending a message concerning his contract state of affairs when he wasn’t spotted because the Steelers opened organized crew actions final week.
On Monday, crew insider Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Put up-Gazette revealed that the “expectation” is that Watt and the Steelers “will come to some settlement” earlier than Pittsburgh opens the 2025 common season with a matchup on the New York Jets on Sept. 7.
Dulac famous that Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns inking a four-year, $160M extension that included $123.5M assured earlier this offseason “possible” impacted how a lot Watt now needs from the Steelers. Moreover, Dulac indicated that Pittsburgh buying extensive receiver DK Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks and giving him a five-year contract value $150M again in March might price the Steelers because it pertains to negotiations with Watt’s camp.
Watt signed a four-year extension value over $112M that included $80M in absolutely assured cash forward of the 2021 season after he participated solely in particular person drills all through coaching camp. It is unclear if he’d play on the final year of that deal within the occasion that the Steelers do not match his asking worth.
Recent updates proceed to counsel that both free agent Aaron Rodgers or present Atlanta Falcons backup Kirk Cousins might be Pittsburgh’s beginning quarterback in September. Buying both veteran could be a win-now transfer for a crew, so it is unlikely Pittsburgh will look to commerce Watt except the membership has to make longtime backup Mason Rudolph its Week 1 QB1.
Charean Williams of Professional Soccer Discuss talked about that the Steelers historically finish contract negotiations as soon as the season will get underway. Pittsburgh has loads of time to work issues out with Watt, and it appears like people inside the group aren’t involved concerning the matter as of the primary week of June.
“The Steelers reward their key gamers as a lot for previous efficiency as they do future projections,” Dulac defined. “They did that final season when they gave defensive finish Cam Heyward a brand new contract at age 35 as he was approaching his 14th NFL season. …In all probability, the Steelers will come to some settlement with Watt, their all-time sack chief.”
Per StatMuse, no participant has recorded extra regular-season sacks than Watt (108) since he entered the NFL by way of the 2017 draft. There is no signal that Pittsburgh plans to punt on the upcoming marketing campaign, so the membership ought to need to make Watt joyful by giving him monetary safety past 2025 sooner moderately than later.
