Steelers Now
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk thinks All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt could feel slighted by the Pittsburgh Steelers giving newly acquired wide receiver DK Metcalf a massive five-year, $130 million deal.
Watt wants to be compensated for his value, as well. That could mean compensation of over $40 million per year. Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett both got massive deals this offseason. Garrett is averaging $40 million per year, while Crosby is making $35.5 million per year.
“DK Metcalf, when they give him a five-year, $130 million contract, and he’s never played for the team before, that’s going to embolden the guy who’s been a loyal servant since 2017 to say, ‘if you’re going to give him market value, and he’s a stranger to the Steelers, I want market value too, and it’s not unreasonable for me to expect it,’” Florio said on PFT Live.
Watt is currently averaging **$**28 million per year and is heading into the last year of his deal. That’s why J.J. Watt has said numerous times this offseason that the Steelers messed up by not paying his brother an extension earlier. They’ll now have to pay even more after Crosby and Garrett got paid handsomely.
“I have a lot of information on that subject,” J.J. Watt said last week on the Pat McAfee Show when asked about T.J. Watt’s contract. “That’s not my subject to discuss.”
Watt also alluded again to the fact that T.J. Watt wanted to sign an extension last year. And the Steelers didn’t want to do it.
“Ownership and front offices obviously treat this like a business but they don’t like it when the players flip the script on them and treat it like a business,” J.J. Watt said.
T.J. Watt, 30, did have a bit of a down year in 2024, registering the third least sacks in a season (11.5) in his career. The other two seasons were his rookie year (seven sacks) and 2022 (5.5 sacks) when he played in just 10 games due to a knee injury.
Watt has also never won a playoff game, so there’s been some speculation that he would want to move on somewhere else to compete for a Super Bowl. He shut down those rumors, however, stating that he wants to be with the Steelers for the rest of his career.
“I want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler,” Watt said. “You guys know that. I don’t want to leave this place. I want to be part of the solution. I’ve put so much into it here.”
Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith is not worried about Watt holding out or a potential trade. He expects a deal will get done between the two sides.
“I’ve been catching up with him all offseason. He really wants to be here. I’m very confident they’re going to get a deal done,” Highsmith said.
Alan Saunders and Brendan How contributed reporting for this story.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: [Insider Believes T.J. Watt Could Feel...
