The NFL is in an arms race at the moment when it comes to premier edge rushers. Micah Parsons, Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt, Aidan Hutchinson and Myles Garrett all entered the offseason with imminent contract extensions, which means the best deal comes to the team that moves the quickest. Crosby was the first domino to fall, becoming the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL with $35.5 million in average annual value. That is already pushing Watt’s price higher.
All signs point to the Steelers extending Watt this offseason, which means they should be ready to up the ante to briefly make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. His brother, J.J. Watt, went on The Pat McAfee Show today and placed a sense of urgency on the Steelers while hinting at a missed opportunity last offseason.
“The earlier you get the deal done, the better deal you get. That’s just a fact,” J.J. Watt said. “That’s why, my personal belief, they should have done it last year because I think there was a hometown discount to be had last year. But now the longer you wait this year, you’ve got Micah coming up. Like you said, you got Aidan Hutchinson, you got Myles. These guys are getting new deals.
“That number’s gonna inch closer to four in front of it than threes. So you’re gonna want to get that done earlier rather than later because the price isn’t going down.”
The idea of a hometown discount is one that rarely comes to pass in the NFL. Tom Brady took reduced money, and there have been other examples, but it’s so rare that it’s hardly worth mentioning most of the time. If a player is in position to reset the market, he is usually going to do so. Obviously J.J. Watt is in a pretty good position to speak to his brother’s motivation, but there is another factor at play in this situation.
The Steelers operate on precedent, and they simply don’t touch contracts that have two years remaining on the term unless they are franchise quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers always wait until one year before the deal is up, which is what this offseason is for T.J. Watt, before working out an extension.
It doesn’t seem like Watt is saying that his brother would have taken a below-market deal last offseason. My interpretation is that they could have gotten him for significantly cheaper last offseason due to the flurry of edge rusher contracts this year. However true that may be, the Steelers don’t do business that way.
What the Steelers can’t afford to do is wait until the very end of training camp like they did with Watt the last time around. It would be wise to get that deal done in the next couple of weeks rather than in September like they did with Watt in 2021.
