Watt refuses to address contract questions
“With respect to the process, I’m not going to be talking about any contract stuff.”
— T.J. Watt
Always one to avoid controversy and make sure he says all the right things, Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt likes to answer tough questions with, “That’s above my pay grade.”
Pretty soon, he won’t able to get that line out with a straight face.
Ahead of the team’s threeday minicamp this week at Heinz Field, the only mandatory portion of the offseason calendar, Watt sped past any contract talk as if it were an overmatched right tackle. The money his production will command from the Steelers in a new deal could reset the market for defensive players across the league, but Watt wanted no part of feeding into negotiations publicly.
“With respect to the process, I’m not going to be talking about any contract stuff today,” Watt said Tuesday morning on Zoom, with a smirk forming ever so slightly.
As the saying goes, you can’t hide money. Watt’s about to see a lot of it as he enters the final season of his rookie deal. For now, he’s set to play in 2021 for $10 million guaranteed, the price tag of his fifth-year option the Steelers exercised in 2020 and fifthhighest cap number on the team.
But Watt might shoot to the top of that list by the time Week 1 kicks off. After leading the league with 15 sacks and 23 tackles for loss last season, both career highs, Watt and his representation could ask for larger salaries than those handed out to Joey Bosa, Myles Garrett and Khalil Mack. Those three are the highest-paid edge rushers in football — and, given the importance of getting to the quarterback, the highestpaid defensive players overall.
Watt wasn’t in Pittsburgh the past three weeks for optional workouts, but he’s here now for the full-team practices that set the tone for training camp. In Miami, All-Pro cornerback Xavien Howard is staying away from minicamp and risking fines for doing so. Same for New England cornerback Stephon Gilmore, the 2019 defensive player of the year. Both are hoping for new contracts and could be training camp holdouts.
“He’s doing what he thinks is best for him, and he’s got to do that, I think,” Steelers defensivecoordinator Keith Butler said of Watt training on his own until now. “I support him as much as anybody, because I was once a player, too, and had to do the same thing going into free agency and stuff like that. … He’s not a free agent right now, he’s still got to go through the calls, but we’re hoping we can get him signed and get him in for training camp. He’s a big part of our defense.”
Bosa got a five-year, $135 million deal with the Chargers last offseason, a power move that could serve as the starting point for Watt’s value the same way Garrett’s did for Bosa. Garrett got $125 million over five years from the Browns just two weeks prior, money that hadn’t been seen at his position since Mack signed for six years, $141 million in 2018 with the Bears, the largest contract for a defensive player.
If Watt did want to wade into those waters through the media, he could make a great case for himself. His 42.5 sacks since 2018 are more than Mack has had in any three-year span. It’s also the same number Garrett has in his career, and five fewer than Bosa’s five-year total. Now, Garrett and Bosa are labeled defensive ends as opposed to outside linebacker, so their responsibilities are slightly different but the most significant remains the same: Get the guy with the ball.
“He’s one of the most respected guys in the game,” Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said of Watt last month. “He’s one of the best at what he does.”
Of course, last year Watt had a great argument that he’s the best. And yet, he didn’t win the league’s defensive player of the year award, which went to Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald for the third time and second year in a row.
A revenge tour might be in order for Watt, but he won’t make any grand proclamations. In typical T.J. fashion, he shrugged off what many Steelers fans viewed as a snub and didn’t vow to wrest the honor away from Donald this time around.
“I don’t think it’s driving me. I think more than anything, I want to be the best possible player I can be, not only for myself, but for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Watt said. “I want to continue to make splash plays. I think the big thing for me is noticing all the big plays I didn’t make last year and wishing I could’ve converted on some forced fumbles, fumble recoveries and turnovers.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of good from last year, but there’s also a lot of stuff I want to continue to improve on. … I just want to get better each and every year, and that’s what I intend to do, starting with this minicamp.”