The wait has ended for T.J. Watt and the Steelers to work out an extension. Team and player have agreed to terms on another monster pact. 
Watt has landed a three-year, $123MM extension, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. The pact includes $108MM in full guarantees. With an average annual value of $41MM, Watt has once again claimed the title of the league’s top earner for defensive players and all non-quarterbacks.
Myles Garrett reset the edge rush market when he signed a Browns pact averaging $40MM per year. Ja’Marr Chase did the same at the receiver position when his Bengals extension (carrying an AAV of $40.25MM) became official. To little surprise, Watt has surpassed both of those figures while helping to ensure he will finish his career in Pittsburgh. Progress has been made rather rapidly, as Mark Kaboly of the Pat McAfee Show notes no agreement was imminent as recently as six days ago.
Both parties in this case expressed a desire to work out a deal months ago, but Watt hinted at dissatisfaction with the early state of contract talks. Over time, this became one of many tense situations involving edge rushers around the league. A major domino has now fallen, though, and Watt is on the books through 2028. This agreement falls short of the length he was seeking, but the former Defensive Player of the Year has succeeded in moving the bar for pass rushers and securing multiple years of locked in money.
Watt has led the NFL in sacks on three occasions (2021-22 and 2024) and he has played in every game the past two seasons after a pec tear cost him notable time in 2023. However, a downturn in play late in the campaign and into the postseason last year was viewed as cause for concern on the Steelers’ part regarding a new deal. Watt already reset the market in 2021, but doing so as he enters his age-31 season obviously carries risk for the team. General manager Omar Khan and Co. are certainly banking on a major drop-off not taking place for several more years.
Watt has operated as the anchor of Pittsburgh’s EDGE group over the course of his All-Pro career, and he will remain in that role well beyond the coming season. Rumors about a potential trade circulated amidst his decision to skip minicamp, but a deal never seemed likely or imminent. A holdout (or at least hold-in) effort during training camp will now not be necessary to get this deal over the finish line, something which was the case last time for Watt.
Alex Highsmith has recorded at least six sacks in each of the past four years, and he remains on the books through 2027. He will remain a starter along the edge, with Nick Herbig and fourth-round rookie Jack Sawyer operating as rotational contributors. Watt (who has amassed 33 forced fumbles and 126 tackles for loss in his career) will be counted on to lead the way in terms of production once again this year and well beyond that point.
The seven-time Pro Bowler has yet to win a playoff game in his career, something Khan and the Steelers have aimed to change this offseason. Pittsburgh has aggressively pursued several new players through trade and free agency, breaking with standard practice in some regards. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receiver D.K. Metcalf, cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay as well as tight end Jonnu Smith are among the new faces which will be relied on to end the Steelers’ drought for playoff wins in 2025.
Watt will of course also be a central figure in that effort. Regardless of if things go according to plan this year, though, he will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
So, we can stop with the trade rumors for Watt now?
Terrible deal. He will be injured 25% of the time
He’s missed 11 games in 8 seasons, good for playing in 91.6% of his team’s games. He’s also played in 43 straight games.
Well he missed the playoff game in 2023-24 season
Thanks, Carnac.
Stop embarrassing yourself with these takes, Casor.
How many games has he missed the last 2 years?
Dude played hurt at the end of last season and did nothing. He pulled up lame in 2023, and missed 5-6 games in 2022. You expect him to get injured less as he gets older?!
This.
Yeah, but it’s on to Hendrickson and Parsons
Yes, you’re correct, which brings the Hendrickson situation to the front burner, and reminds us to wonder…what is Cincinnati doing?????? Not negotiating with a guy who’s produced exceptionally well without a lot of help around him??? Oh, yes, here’s the plan…let’s not negotiate with our best lineman and then really show our players we’re serious about winning by fouling up the contract negotiations with our #1 pick, who was picked to team up with our best pass rusher, a guy that, arguably, needed to be at the training facility more than any other #1 pick this year?????” Good thing they gave Higgins all that money for a #2, because the way their defense is stacking up the Bengals are going to need to score about 100 points a game to compete.
I think Cincy thinks because their strategy of drafting guys with upside in the second and third rounds and signing “up and coming” players to bargain contracts paid off for years that it will always pay off.
They’re unlikely to sign another Hendrickson any time soon or draft another steal. Ossai and Sample both looked great early on but nobody has panned out anywhere close to the way Trey has. Their former first round pick has yet to do anything in the league coming up on his I believe third year now? Their current first round pick isn’t even in the building yet.
Their strategy only works if you actually draft well. They’ve spent the draft capital on the important positions (DE, LT, CB, etc) but haven’t hit on any of them recently. They just keep drafting athleticism and upside.
The one place they have drafted well is offensive skill positions but that’s about it really. It’s the only thing that’s allowed them to not be a complete bottom feeder of a team, probably because they weren’t drafting those players because they needed to. They HAD to draft a CB when they drafted Hill. They HAD to draft a DE when they drafted Murphy because they were trying to prepare to let Trey walk. They HAD to draft an LT when they drafted Mims. That leads to bad decisions by teams who don’t consistently make smart decisions or prioritize what they already have.
Big bucks
He better be amazing for next 34 games plus some playoff games. I don’t care it he’s getting chipped. That type of money means no excuses
Oh he’s going to get chipped. He gets doubled alot too
And PED usage breaks down the body. Just like his brothers.
He doesn’t use PED
OMG 😂
Once again the people being dismissive and saying he was delusional for wanting that money look stupid.
Generational players are the exception, not the rule.
If he can stay on the field..
Some commenters here pocket watch players as if the owners’ money being spent is their money.
I think it’s just because people think playing fantasy football makes them experts or because they read meaningless analytics like it means everything or because this is mainly a baseball site with people cross commenting.
It’s popular to be dismissive and disrespectful towards players these days by people who don’t even know anything about any sport.
It’s funny in that the actual smart front offices and teams who win regularly have no issue paying players. The Eagles are a perfect example. When it was time to pay Hurts they gave him one of the best QB contracts in the league. They didn’t care about top QB lists or try to drag it out to save a few million. Meanwhile, teams like the Cowboys and Bengals pay more in the long run by waiting so long. TJ will age just fine and by the time he falls off it won’t matter anyway they will be rebuilding.
I think the Eagles have shown that they’re more than willing to pay CERTAIN positions and CERTAIN players.
Johnson, Hurts, Dickerson, Brown, Mailata. Now Jurgens. Of course Saquon after years of idiotically refusing to pay RBs. Well they were gonna pay Ajayi had he not gotten hurt but yeah. They played hardball with Devonta, and we’ve seen how stupid they’ve been with Goedert.
They’ll have to pay Carter and Q and Coop but may hesitate to pay Smith and likely won’t pay Davis imo. But yeah that’s still way more than the three players the Bengals have paid.
For the most part, the Eagles have been smart enough to not hesitate to pay the players they deem most important, unlike Cincy and Dallas. That’s saved them a lot of money in the long run.
FWIW, there are two distinct reasons for this…
1) A large (way too large) segment of the population has been conditioned their entire lives to tongue bathe the taints of the rich and they grow to enjoy it.
2) In cap leagues, fans need their teams to spend wisely in order to succeed.
One ruins the world, the other makes a fair bit of sense.
Generational you say
Yeah, generational. He’s the fastest player in history to 100 sacks.
Sit down.
I’ll gladly take the 3 year on him
Absolute steal at 3 years
Feel like he could’ve got 4-6 years with a slightly lower AAV
6 years? This isn’t baseball
*10 years
Shoulda been a Packer.
Carry on.
Yawn. Such a lazy take.
Who goes to on post a “lazy take”? Like you have any authority or position to make such claims. Guess that make you feel good about yourself.
if you know why I said this, you’d know and understand the 2017 draft, how the Packers fumbled by trading back for a nobody CB. Moreover, having a Wisconsin connection would have only added to picking Watt.
He shoulda been a Packer.
You don’t like my take? Move on.
Aiden Hutchinson is getting 41.75
A healthy Hutch will probably get like 43-45.
Maybe he can taste a victory in the playoffs before he’s done
Let’s not get too carried away
lol
Your name is a lie after that post…
Fair lol
I had no idea he has amassed 33 fumbles, how does a defensive player fumble that often? 😁
Haha … forced fumbles. He better stay on the field though or the Steelers will look to rid of him. We will see if his production stays consistent.
Parsons in Dallas says “Next” …
If not for injuries this past season, Hutch and Parsons probably get at least $45 million a year with no hesitation imo.
I know Hutchinson will come back ready to go and will get paid, but I still dont understand why the Lions havent brought Z’Darius Smith back yet? Maybe he wants too much money, but this team is so close to a SB, you would think they would agree on something? This team needs a pass rush to hold leads and it all cant fall on Hutch.
They meant fumble RECOVERIES, of course.
Everyone keeps doubting him.
Good. I like it when he plays pissed off.
Yeah, me too.
Look, he’s a great player and a throwback type who could have played in any of the Steelers greatest eras. But unlike those eras, he’s not surrounded by superstars on offense. I guess what I’m saying is that as an old school fan, that’s one helluva contract for a guy who really can’t lead them to playoff wins.
But the market is what it is in today’s game. My kind of thinking is antiquated, at best
Steelers showing everyone they can play hardball just as bad as the Pirates 🙂
I said Gat DAMN!
Now what’s going to happen with Hendrickson and Parsons?
Parsons will get paid. Hendrickson will have to wait until free agency.
I think the Bengals were basically waiting so they could make the excuse that they’ll now make, that they weren’t willing to exceed a certain price point and made what they considered a more than fair offer that Trey wouldn’t accept.
The PEDs don’t react well to age. Terrible, terrible deal for Pittsburgh.
How many times do you intend to make that point? We read your take as a response to another post. It’s complete speculation on your part, anyway. Repeating your point over and over again doesn’t substitute for evidence and truth.
WAIT FOR THE HUTCH CONTACT TO COME NEXT YEAR, HE WILL MAKE MORE THEN THE DALLAS PARSON MAN.