With the Hall of Fame career for one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history in J.J. Watt seemingly at an end after retiring from the game in January, his departure from the game leaves a major “what if?” in his wake.
Watt, who had a chance to sign anywhere he wanted following his surprising release from the Houston Texans on February 12, 2021 after 10 seasons with the franchise that drafted him No. 11 overall in the 2011 NFL Draft, never played a game with his brothers, Derek and T.J., in Pittsburgh during their NFL careers.
He had a chance to though after his release. Ultimately, he decided to sign with the Arizona Cardinals in free agency, spending two years with the Cardinals before announcing his retirement. But, there was a chance he became a Steeler with Derek and T.J., but ultimately decided to stay out of the way.
Appearing on the Green Light Podcast with former NFL defensive end Chris Long and offensive guard Kyle Long, Watt revealed that he seriously considered the Steelers in free agency ahead of the 2021 season after his release from Houston, but ultimately decided to not take any money way from T.J. in his contract negotiation with the Steelers at that time, which ultimately made him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL that summer.
“They were [on the list]. It certainly would have been awesome to play with my brothers, but T.J. was also going through the contract situation there, so the last thing I wanted to do was come in and take any money away from his contract,” Watt said to the Longs, according to video via the Green Light with Chris Long channel on YouTube.
That offseason, Watt was on the verge of becoming the highest-paid defensive player in football, which he ultimately became after signing a four-year, $112.01 million contract, giving him $28 million in new money average and included $80 million fully guaranteed.
Prior to Watt signing that extension though, the Steelers entered the 2021 offseason in a bit of a tight salary cap situation — much like a number of NFL teams — coming out of the COVID-19 year with a significant drop in cap space from the previous year. That’s what made it hard to sign J.J. Watt in free agency, though there was plenty of interest from both sides — as well as the fan base in general.
The price of J.J. Watt wasn’t great for Pittsburgh at the time as Pittsburgh was staring at being $19 million over the cap before making some serious cap moves just to get compliant. Even if J.J. would have wanted to sign with the Steelers, it would have had to be a very cheap deal overall, one that would see him sacrifice a lot of money just for the chance to play with his brothers.
Watt said publicly (and jokingly) that he didn’t love his brothers enough to sign for league minimum, too.
He could have been part of a special year, too, as T.J. went on to win the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award — an award J.J. won three times — after tying the NFL’s single-season sacks record with 22.5 after becoming the league’s highest paid defensive player.
In the end though, it all worked out for everyone as J.J. signed a huge two-year, $31 million deal with the Cardinals in free agency, T.J. got his money, and both put up some impressive numbers in the ensuing years, though both struggled with injuries in the same span.
It certainly would have been fun to have J.J. as a Steeler, but he did what any good older brother would do, and stayed out of the way, letting his youngest brother get every penny he deserved.
