Pittsburgh Steelers, TJ Watt contract talks reaching critical point

The ongoing contract negotiations between the Pittsburgh Steelers and linebacker T.J. Watt have reached a critical point with the season beginning Sunday. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport stated on NFL Gameday that it is “up in the air” whether or not Watt signs a contract extension and returns to the team’s practices.

Steelers and T.J. Watt contract dispute

Watt has been in contract extension talks with the Steelers all preseason long, and has not yet joined the team in a full capacity until the deal is done. During training camp, he participated in meetings and conditioning but did not participate in drills, spending team periods conditioning on the sideline.

Watt was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft and is entering the option year of his rookie contract. If the two sides do not reach an agreement, Watt will enter free agency or will be franchise tagged in March.

While discussing a quote from head coach Mike Tomlin where he stated he was “optimistic” that a deal will be done this week, Rapoport was not as convinced.

“I am not so sure,” stated Rapoport. “Based on what I know, it certainly seemed up in the air whether or not T.J. Watt is going to be practicing like normal tomorrow and gearing up for the game.”

“They have been in intense long-term contract negotiations really through the better part of the summer. And the way that the Steelers do their deals, they have a hard deadline of the first game. If they don’t get a deal done by the first game it is not getting done during the season.”

Explaining why this contract negotiation has been so hard for either side to agree to, Rapoport stated that the hanging point in negotiations has been the Steelers refusing to guarantee salaries beyond the first year of a multi-year contract.

“This one has been incredibly difficult, challenging, because of the way the Steelers structure [contracts]. They do not do full guarantees beyond year one. I do not know right now if that is something that T.J. Watt will actually accept. If so they may get a deal, if not this could go for a very, very long time.”

What Watt means for the Steelers

Complicating matters, when the Steelers released their unofficial depth chart for week one, Watt was listed as the Steelers starting left linebacker. He is expected to be the defensive play-caller, and not being available to start the season could cause significant problems for the Steelers.

With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger making his support for Watt public on Wednesday, the Steelers are running out of time to find an agreement.

Watt has proven on the field he deserves a new contract. He has been selected first-team All-Pro in both seasons. And he has totaled 29.5 sacks, 77 hits on the quarterback, 15 passes defended, 10 forced fumbles and 23 tackles for loss. 

He was also third in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2019 and second in 2020. Watt is the pillar of the Pittsburgh defense and is a dominant force. The Steelers have ranked in the top-five in both points and yards allowed in Watt’s two seasons with the franchise. 

On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this article.