Star outside linebacker and face of the franchise T.J. Watt doesn’t seem like a guy who will negotiate through the media and make his displeasure known. Still, a cryptic Instagram post last week has social media and many big-name media members buzzing about what could be happening with Watt’s extension talks with the only franchise he’s ever known.
Though it’s unclear if Watt is actually unhappy and things aren’t going all that well in negotiations with the Steelers, it’s led to quite a bit of speculation regarding the situation. That includes on the No. 1 Cochran Sports Showdown on KDKA Sunday night.
There, long-time Steelers’ beat reporter Ray Fittipaldo stated that the Steelers have the Cleveland Browns and Myles Garrett to thank for making it a “really difficult” situation for the Steelers and Watt, who is due for an extension and saw the likes of Garrett and even Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby reset the market at the EDGE position this offseason.
“I think in this time when players are going after money, things can get contentious, and you remember Cam Heyward last year not showing up for OTAs, threatening he could finish his career elsewhere. And he’s Mr. Steeler. He’s a team captain. So this type of stuff happens. I think we all know in the end this contract is gonna get done. But I will tell you, Bob, the Cleveland Browns made this really difficult on the Steelers,” Fittipaldo said regarding the Watt situation, according to video via KDKA. “On March 6th, Maxx Crosby signed a $35 million a year contract, top of the market for an outside linebacker, edge rusher.
“The Browns signed Myles Garrett three days later, 40 million. So they didn’t just sign him a million, over 2 million over, they went 5 million over what the market was set at. That’s why we are where we are, which is what the Browns seem to do. They did it with a quarterback. Now they’re doing it here with the Steelers, who would’ve been better off doing this a year ago when they had a chance.”
As Fittipaldo pointed out, this type of behavior — if this is what Watt is doing with the cryptic Instagram post — is normal in today’s NFL. Players have a direct line of communication to the fans and the media through social media, and they often use it as leverage in discussions, creating unwanted headlines and attention for the teams.
Does it work in negotiations? Hard to tell, but it certainly generates discussions. That’s what it’s doing here, and as Fittipaldo pointed out correctly, the Steelers have the Browns to thank.
Though Garrett requested a trade, citing a desire to win, it was all a ploy to get more money, which the Browns ultimately did for him. This helped him reset the market in a major way by another $5 million average per year above Crosby’s deal.
The Steelers could have avoided Watt’s price going up, as Steelers Depot’s Dave Bryan pointed out early in the offseason, by getting ahead of the curve and paying Watt quickly. They didn’t do that. Fittipaldo tried to make the case that the Steelers should have done it last year, falling in line with what JJ Watt previously said on the Pat McAfee Show, but that’s not how the Steelers typically do things.
So now they find themselves in a difficult situation, and it’s largely due to their own stubbornness in how they do things, and maybe due to Watt making the right call from a player’s perspective, waiting to see how the market shakes out around him.
To his credit, Watt has stated time and time again that he wants to be a Steeler, doesn’t want to play anywhere else, and talks about how much the Black and Gold mean to him.
Since being the No. 30 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Watt has put together a dominant tenure in the Black and Gold, easily putting himself among the all-time greats in franchise history. He has a Defensive Player of the Year award on his resume, is tied for the most sacks in a single season with 22.5 in NFL history, and has four other top 5 finishes in DPOY voting.
Year after year, Watt is a game-wrecker and one of the best defensive players in the league, period. Even if he’s on the wrong side of 30 and coming off of a season in which teams came up with a way to slow him down with chips from tight ends and running backs, not to mention sliding protections his way, he remains the elite of the elite.
This will eventually get done, but it will be interesting to see how much it costs the Steelers at this point.
They can thank the Browns for the increase in the price tag.
