T.J. Watt won in his contract negotiation with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also won in his battle to surpass at least some of Myles Garrett’s financial terms in Cleveland.
Great. Now go win a playoff game.
Yeah, yeah. I know. Playoff records are team results, not individual stats assigned to outside linebackers. At most, quarterbacks and coaches should carry those records.
I get it.
But Watt’s entire goal was to — in some way or another — emerge from this spring’s negotiation with the Steelers as the highest-paid non-quarterback in the National Football League.
He did that Thursday, receiving $108 million guaranteed dollars from the Steelers and an average annual value of $41 million in new money.
For context, half of the NFL’s starting quarterbacks make less than $41 million AAV. Patrick Mahomes’ AAV is $45 million, 15th among quarterbacks.
So I’m going to use a little latitude and assign some quarterback-level responsibility to Watt. After all, it’s the second time in his career Watt has garnered that title as “highest paid non-QB in football.”
However, his next playoff win would be his first.
Oops. There I go again.
If you’re getting the impression that I’m being a bit snide and cynical about this extension for Watt, good for you. I was hoping you’d pick up on that.
It has nothing to do with who Watt has been as a player. He’s been fabulous. A Hall of Famer. I just worry about how great he can continue to be.
I don’t see the wisdom in giving an outside linebacker $108 million in guaranteed money as he is about to turn 31 years old, coming off his least productive full season since his rookie year.
Not when he had another year to go on his contract. Not with the leverage of the franchise tag. Not with the ability to go full rebuild after this year, with a ton of looming cap space that just got significantly absorbed. Not with Watt’s previous statements about wanting to be “part of the solution” in Pittsburgh.
I guess the sincerity of those statements only extends as far as one year removed from whatever the end of his contract is, huh? I mean, are we going to do this again in the spring of 2028, going into the final year of this new contract? Or is he just going to announce his retirement a year out?
Watt’s older brother, J.J., is a franchise icon with the Houston Texans. He ended up playing his last two years in Arizona. Let’s not be naive about the whole “one helmet guy” thing. This contract doesn’t assure that.
Granted, Steelers fans do love that kind of thing. They loved it about Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Heath Miller, Troy Polamalu, and a whole bunch of guys from the 1970s.
No, it’s not everything — see Alan Faneca, Joey Porter, Franco Harris and Rod Woodson, among others. But it counts.
Not to belabor the point, but so do playoff wins.
With the exception of his first half against Kansas City in the 2021-22 postseason, Watt has either been injured or ineffective in the playoffs and late in the regular season, as the Steelers have failed to win a postseason game in each of the eight years since he entered the league.
Watt has to wear that just like every quarterback or non-quarterback that has been through Acrisure Stadium since 2016.
People remember that stuff forever. They quickly forget who the highest-paid player was for any span of time. In Watt’s case, that span could be a matter of just days or weeks until Micah Parsons signs his new contract in Dallas.
Parsons, Garrett and Watt could probably combine their contracts and buy a small country. They can’t buy a Super Bowl ring, though.
If any of the three of them ever get there, I’ll surely remember that more than whoever ends up with the biggest bank account.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
