If things go as planned this offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers will sign OLB T.J. Watt to a contract extension and quite possibly one that makes him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL at the time of him inking it. However, while we wait for it to happen, there’s a new highest-paid defensive player in the NFL as of Wednesday: Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby. And that should drive Watt’s price tag up. Way up.
According to several reports, Crosby has agreed to a new three-year deal with the Raiders and one that includes a new money average of $35.5 million. Specifically, Crosby’s three-year deal is reportedly worth $106.5 million with $91.5 million guaranteed. As is usually the case, we’ll likely need to wait a few more days until more specifics related to that contract are known.
At the very least, Crosby has now overtaken Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers as the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player.
Prior to his new deal, Crosby had an annual money average of $23.5 million. He was also previously under contract through the 2026 season. Crosby was scheduled to earn a base salary in 2025 of $22.236 million with a cash total of slightly more than $23 million. However, none of Crosby’s 2025 was guaranteed prior to him agreeing to his new deal. Obviously, that’s changed.
When it comes to the impact that Crosby’s new deal possibly has on a new deal for Watt, it’s probably negligible. After all, Crosby topped the Bosa high-water APY mark by just $1.5 million. What will be interesting to see when it comes to specifics related to Crosby’s deal is the real cash flow of it by year, the signing bonus, and how much is indeed fully guaranteed.
While Crosby is now the new placeholder of the top spot, he might not be in that chair exceedingly long. Two other NFL edge rushers, DE Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns and LB/EDGE Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys, are both prime candidates to top Crosby’s APY in the coming weeks and months. Garrett, however, could be traded by the Browns soon as he has stated recently that he wants out of Cleveland. Regardless, Garrett is expected to sign a new deal this offseason, one that should easily exceed Crosby’s $35.5 million APY.
At the recently concluded 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, Steelers GM Omar Khan gave every indication that the team plans to sign Watt to a contract extension this offseason.
“T.J.’s one of those legacy guys that, you know, I was around Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu, those guys played their entire careers, and that’s a special thing and I’m hopeful and confident that T.J. will be one of those guys,” Khan said.
While the Steelers indeed seem set on extending Watt, whose current contract runs through the 2025 season, Khan did not tip his hand when asked about a timeframe for when a new deal might be struck with the team’s former first-round draft pick out of Wisconsin.
“I don’t want to get into details of that,” Khan said. “It’s been different depending on the circumstances that persist, but T.J.’s been a big part of this team and [I’m] confident and hopeful he’ll be here.”
Unless the Steelers are able to strike a deal with Watt very soon, there’s a chance that it might ultimately take a new money average of $40 million to get him to agree to an extension. At the very least, it seems almost certain that Watt’s new APY, assuming an extension gets done this offseason, will at least top Crosby’s $35.5 million mark.
Watt enters 2025 with 108 career sacks over a span of eight NFL seasons. Crosby, on the other hand, enters 2025 with 59.5 NFL sacks in his first six seasons. Watt will turn 31 later this fall while Crosby will turn 29 just prior to the 2025 regular season starting.
Watt is currently scheduled to earn $21.05 million in 2025 and he’s now the fifth highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL behind Crosby, Bosa, Josh Hines-Allen of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Brian Burns of the New York Giants.
