PITTSBURGH — With less than a week remaining before training camp, the Pittsburgh Steelers and T.J. Watt agreed to terms Thursday on a deal that makes the star edge rusher the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback.
The three-year extension is worth $123 million, team sources told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. That’s an average of $41 million in new money, just slightly ahead of AFC North rival Myles Garrett, who inked a deal worth $40 million annually this offseason with the Cleveland Browns. Watt’s contract also includes $108 million guaranteed at signing.
Watt, a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, was entering the final year of a four-year, $112 million deal he signed in the summer of 2021. In June, he skipped voluntary OTAs and mandatory minicamp to bring attention to his unresolved contract situation.
At the time, it looked like the Steelers could be in for another messy training camp distraction. To get his money the last time, Watt “held in” during camp and the saga wasn’t settled until just days before the season opener. This time around, GM Omar Khan got the contract signed ahead of camp.
The last time the Steelers signed Watt to a contract extension, they saw an immediate return on investment. In 2021, he led the league with 22.5 sacks, which tied Michael Strahan for the official single-season record. He also forced five fumbles and recovered three to secure his first NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. In several years since, Watt has made a strong case for the award, while anchoring the Steelers’ defensive front.
Dating to the NFL Scouting Combine, Khan repeatedly expressed his desire to complete this deal with Watt.
“T.J. is one of those legacy guys,” Khan said in February. “I was around Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu. Those guys spent their entire careers with us, and that’s a special thing. I’m hopeful and confident that T.J. will be one of those guys.”
However, there were a number of challenges to get the contract done. For one, Garrett pulled a strong leverage play by requesting a trade from the Browns. To get him to change his mind, Cleveland negotiated a four-year, $160 million extension ($40 million annually) that included $123.5 million in guaranteed money. It’s not often that a player resets the market with his third contract, but that’s exactly what Garrett did.
Considering Watt and Garrett are about the same age — Watt will turn 31 in October, while Garrett turns 30 in December — that contract served as the anchor point for negotiations.
The other challenges were term length and guaranteed money. Historically, the Steelers are often reluctant to guarantee money beyond the first year of a contract. They broke that precedent for the first time in a major way the last time Watt was a free agent, handing him three years in guarantees. This time around, they gave him the $108 million in guaranteed money, which includes the first two years of the three-year extension.
As he begins the next chapter of his career, Watt has already put himself on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Last October, he recorded his 100th career sack, becoming the second-fastest player in NFL history to reach that milestone. While he should continue to rack up individual accolades and stats, Watt has never won a playoff game in his eight-year career. It’s something that has eaten at him, as his frustrations have grown over the years.
“I say all the time, there’s a big difference between guys that come back that are Super Bowl champions and guys that aren’t,” Watt said before last year’s first-round playoff exit. “And that’s not a slight at the guys that aren’t. I’m one of those guys right now, but there’s definitely an aura to a guy that has won a Super Bowl. And there’s a togetherness, a close-knit group of guys that when they come back for those alumni weekends, they hang out and they bond, and they talk about their successes on and off the field and that Super Bowl run.
“We want that,” Watt continued. “Every guy in here wants that. Don’t confuse any of this lack of success for lack of effort. Everybody’s trying. We’re turning over every stone that we possibly can to be great. We want to be great. We just need to do it together. And that’s not saying that we haven’t, but we just need to do everything collectively and play complementary football when the time matters most. And there’s definitely a sense of urgency because it’s playoffs in the National Football League. This is what everybody plays the game for.”
Now, with Watt signed through the 2028 season, he’s committing himself to Pittsburgh and hoping he can be part of the solution as the Steelers look to end their now eight-year postseason winless streak.
Dianna Russini contributed to this story.
(Photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
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