The Pittsburgh Steelers have a had an eventful offseason, but one hurdle remains. The face of the franchise, T.J. Watt, is now heading into the final season of his contract, and the two sides don’t seem to be getting any closer to an agreement. Former NFL receiver James Jones thinks the Steelers are doing their star defender a disservice.
“It’s disrespectful,” Jones said Monday on FS1’s The Facility. “It is disrespectful, man. We give coach [Mike] Tomlin a lot of credit for getting to the playoffs every year, right? Or not having a losing season. We give him a lot of credit for that. If you don’t have this boy [Watt], you gonna have a lot of losing seasons. You see Myles Garrett and you see Maxx Crosby get extensions. And you could argue that [Watt] colder than them dudes. T.J. Watt is getting disrespected right now.”
The Steelers are getting their fair share of criticism for taking their time with Watt. They’ve been busy this offseason, making a few big trades, and waiting on Aaron Rodgers for quite a while as well. Through all that time, though, they’ve failed to make any progress with Watt.
That’s only hurting them in their negotiations. While we don’t know exactly how much money Watt is asking for, he certainly has the argument to be paid more than guys like Myles Garrett and Maxx Crosby, whom Jones brings up. But therein lies the problem for the Steelers. While they’re taking their sweet time with Watt, both of those two have gotten their own contract extensions this offseason. And in a world where every new extension for a star player seems to reset the market, the Steelers could find themselves having to pay Watt more than $40 million per year, the price Garrett is currently worth.
While it’s a steep price to pay, the Steelers might not have a choice. They find it hard to win games without Watt, to say the least. Jones agrees with that notion, and thinks without him, the Steelers could be compared to some of the worst teams in the league.
“If 90 [Watt] ain’t there, scratch it off,” Jones said. “You’re not going nowhere, if 90’s not there. Could you imagine, the quarterbacks they’ve had, and no T.J. Watt? Come on man, they would be the Browns.”
It’s no secret that defense has kept the Steelers competitive in recent years. As Jones mentions, the offense, and specifically the quarterback play, has been brutal during that stretch.
Now, Pittsburgh finds itself in a tricky situation. Some argue that Watt is worth every penny, and they’d certainly have a leg to stand on. However, he’s now in his 30s, and saw his sack total drop from 19 in 2023, to 11.5 in 2024. He’s still one of the top players at his position, but his statistical drop in 2024 could worry the Steelers.
Last time these two sides went through this, things lasted almost all the way until the start of the regular season. Although it still seems like Watt will remain a Steeler, it’s possible that these negotiations take a similar path. With training camp starting next week, we should start learning some answers soon.
