Whenever a new contract nudges the prior APY bar a little higher than it was, there’s always a possibility that the deal includes a fugazi final year that accomplishes this goal.
The new T.J. Watt contract does NOT contain a fugazi final year.
It’s an impressive deal, beyond the $41 million new-money average (which leapfrogged Myles Garrett’s $40 million per year). We’ve gotten the details of the new four-year deal (three-year “extension”), and here they are. Per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $40 million.
2. 2025 base salary: $4 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 base salary: $32 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2027 base salary: $32 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2028 offseason roster bonus: $15 million, due on the third day of the league year.
6. 2028 base salary: $21.05 million.
Three years — THREE — are fully guaranteed. At $108 million, it’s the highest full guarantee for any non-quarterback in NFL history. Hell, it’s $8 million more in full guarantees than Brock Purdy received earlier this year.
The cash flow is $44 million, $32 million, and $32 million. With an early trigger on the final $36.05 million.
Of the full amount, 74.97 percent is fully guaranteeed at signing. And the cash flow in the early years ($76 million in two years, $108 million in three years) are the highest for any non-quarterback in league history.
And he turns 31 on October 11. He’ll finish each of his three fully-guaranteed seasons at 31, 32, and 33.
It’s a hell of a commitment by the Steelers, and it ensures that Watt will be a Steeler at least through 2027.
Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt is now the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. He’ll hold that title until the moment Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons signs his next contract.
It’s unclear when that will be. Still, barring something completely unforeseen and unexpected, Parsons will get a deal. And it will be worth more than Watt’s $41 million per year in new money.
The question is whether Parsons will set the new standard by a little — or by a lot. Will he get $41.1 million? $42 million? $45 million? More?
Our guess is it’ll be closer to $45 million, if not more than that. He’s well younger than the edge rushers who have gotten to the $40 million mark (Watt and Myles Garrett). And, again, the longer the Cowboys wait, the more expensive the final deal likely will be.
It’s actually good for the Cowboys and Parsons that Watt’s deal was done. Parsons and his agents may have wanted to wait for Watt before doing a deal. Even though Parsons might exceed Watt and Garrett by a significant margin, the Watt deal remained a key data point for Parsons.
Now, Parsons has the information. He can do a deal.
If and when the Cowboys decide to finally do it.
There will not be a T.J. Watt holdout this summer.
According to multiple reports, Watt has agreed to terms on a three-year contract extension that will make him the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback in league history.
The initial numbers indicate Watt’s deal is worth $123 million with $108 million fully guaranteed at signing. His $41 million per year average eclipses the $40 million per year average Cleveland’s Myles Garrett received on a new contract earlier this offseason. It also surpasses Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, whose new deal averaged $40.25 million per year.
Watt seemingly confirmed the news of the deal with a post on social media.
Watt, 30, was the No. 30 overall pick of the 2017 draft. He’s led the league in sacks three times, most recently in 2023 when he finished the season with 19.0. He previously tied Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22.5 in 2021, winning his first AP defensive player of the year award that season.
In 2024, Watt recorded 11.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, 27 QB hits, and a league-leading six forced fumbles in all 17 games.
The Steelers had reportedly checked in on what Watt’s trade value could be. But with the two sides agreeing on an extension, there will be no separation between Pittsburgh and Watt before the 2025 season.
When receiver Mike Williams elected to return to the Chargers this offseason, he said that he had something to prove after a “terrible” 2024 with the Jets and Steelers.
But then Williams landed on the physically unable to perform list to start training camp.
Now, Williams has elected to hang up his cleats.
According to multiple reports, Williams has informed the Chargers that he is retiring.
Williams, 30, was the Chargers’ first draft selection after the club relocated to Los Angeles in 2017. He was the No. 7 overall pick of that year’s draft out of Clemson.
But Williams’ career was marred by injury. He dealt with a back issue in his rookie season and had another one in 2022. Then he suffered a torn ACL in 2023, which likely hindered him in 2024. He was able to appear in every game in a season only twice — in 2018 with the Chargers, and then he played 18 games last season — nine with the Jets and nine with the Steelers.
Williams eclipsed 1,000 yards twice — in 2019 and 2021, both with the Chargers. His best season was the latter, as he ended the year with 76 receptions for a team-high 1,146 yards while also leading the team with nine receiving touchdowns.
Williams will end his career having appeared in 106 games with 67 starts. He recorded 330 receptions for 5,104 yards with 32 touchdowns.
While Aaron Rodgers was taking his time to decide whether or not to sign with the Steelers, longtime Pittsburgh defensive lineman Cam Heyward made some pointed comments about his hesitancy to join the team.
Heyward said he wouldn’t make any pitch to Rodgers about signing because “either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t” and added that it would be “no skin off my back” if Rodgers opted not to hop aboard. Now that Rodgers has taken the plunge, Heyward says that he has no doubts about whether the veteran is fully invested in what the team is doing.
“It just felt like he has bought in, and it worked out for the best,” Heyward said this week on “The Rich Eisen Show”. “I know sometimes we live in a society where we want things now. But patience has a way of paying off. And to now see he’s a Pittsburgh Steelers and just him walking through the locker room asking questions how we do things. He’s bought in and that’s all I can ask for our quarterback. As a teammate, I’m excited to go work with him.”
Rodgers has signaled that he will be one and done with the Steelers and that means everyone in Pittsburgh will have to be all the way in for the Steelers to have the kind of postseason success that’s eluded them since they lost to Rodgers in Super Bowl XLV.
T.J. Watt does not have a contract extension yet.
The last time the Steelers edge rusher was unhappy with his deal — in 2021 — he did not participate in practice to avoid injury. Watt ended up signing a four-year, $112 million extension three days before the start of the season.
This time, talks are dragging out, too, though Watt is expected to get a deal that will top the $40 million annual average of Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett.
Teammate Cam Heyward weighed in on Watt’s contract situation during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.
“Man, that’s my brother. I want that dude to get paid what he deserves,” Heyward said. “That dude is one of the most fierce and best players in our league and he’s respected throughout the league. . . . I’ve had the best time being able to play with him, and I hope this year is not the last time we play together because that dude, that’s my running mate. We’ve created a lot of havoc together, and I just want to see that guy continue to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and be a one-helmet guy.”
The Steelers reportedly have done their “due diligence” by inquiring as to Watt’s trade value.
“I’m going up to [Steelers General Manager] Omar [Khan] and I’m telling him, ‘That’s not happening,’” Heyward said. “If there’s even a trade that gets up there, I don’t think it helps our team to trade a guy like that.”
Watt, 30, led the league in sacks three of the previous five seasons, including matching the NFL’s all-time single-season record (22.5) in 2021. He is a seven-time Pro Bowler and a four-time All-Pro.
Plenty of Steelers fans love Aaron Rodgers. Plenty of other Steelers fans do not.
Love or hate, they’re buying Aaron Rodgers T-shirts.
As explained by Joe Lister of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a purveyor of Rodgers-related merch believes that gear is being purchased both by fans of Rodgers — and by foes.
Danielle Dudas told Lister that customers “who go out of their way to say how much they dislike the quarterback.”
“Some people are like, ‘I want a shirt just so I can burn it,’ ” Dudas told Lister.
T-shirts apparently are doing well because they’re much cheaper than a jersey. And fans may not be interested in buying the jersey of a one-year player.
The point for now is that plenty of Steelers fans remain skeptical. If he plays well, they’ll come around. If he doesn’t, they’ll get loud.
Which raises the stakes for Rodgers in the three winnable games to start the season — at the Jets, vs. the Seahawks, and at the Patriots.
There’s often a difference between the things a reporter will write, and the things a reporter will say.
When putting words on paper (real or electronic), there’s always a greater degree of care. When putting words into the ether, everyone (me included) is a little looser. It happens all the time.
The latest example of that dynamic comes from Mark Kaboly, who serves as the Steelers correspondent for The Pat McAfee Show. And the question is whether the Steelers are considering a potential trade of linebacker T.J. Watt, amid an ongoing contract dispute.
Here’s what Kaboly tweeted on Friday: "[T]here has been no inquires made to other teams about trading [Watt], according to sources.” In an appearance earlier in the day on 93.7 The Fan, however, Kaboly said something that seems contradictory on the face (even if it isn’t).
On the question of what the Steelers could get in trade for Watt (first-round pick, second-round pick, etc.), Kaboly said this of the Steelers: "[T]hey are obviously inquiring to see what that might be.” When co-host Andrew Fillipponi seemed alarmed by that claim, Kaboly said, “I’m sure that’s due diligence there at this point, right?”
This isn’t a criticism of Kaboly. It’s an effort to drill down to the truth that lurks in the sweet spot between things written and things said. Officially, the Steelers haven’t inquired to other teams about trading Watt. Unofficially, as Kaboly said it on the air, they’re talking to other teams not about trading for Watt, but in an effort to find out, hypothetically, what his trade value might be.
As Kaboly said, it’s “due diligence.” It’s important to know all options before making a decision.
And that makes sense. The recent report from NFL Media last month wasn’t “there’s no way they’ll ever trade him.” It was that they have “no intention” to trade him.
Imagine the Chiefs saying they have “no intention” to trade Patrick Mahomes. Or the Bills as to Josh Allen. Or the Bengals as to Joe Burrow. “No intention” means the player isn’t untradeable. And, on multiple occasions in the past, a team that had “no intention” to trade a player did.
In this case, whoever trades for Watt (if that happens) would have to make him happy financially and give the Steelers enough to get them to move on from their most important player at a time when they seem to be going all in to win a playoff game for the first time since the months before Watt was drafted in early 2017.
The due diligence could be part of an effort to say to Watt, when nut-cutting time arrives in the negotiations, “T.J., no one else is going to give you what you want AND what we want.”
If the Steelers want to best frame that issue, they could give Watt permission to shop himself. The Bengals did it with Trey Hendrickson, who learned that there was no one who’d satisfy both him and the Bengals.
It’s a minefield, to be sure. The mere fact that the Steelers apparently have tiptoed into it speaks to the extent of the gap between the two sides.
In the end, the question becomes whether Watt will take or reject the best offer the Steelers make before Week 1. He may want more than Myles Garrett’s $40 million per year. If Watt is offered $36 million per year, would he give up $2 million per week?
As mentioned on July 4, the Steelers seem to believe he won’t. They, and everyone else, may find out otherwise when Week 1 rolls around, with the Steelers rolling into MetLife Stadium for a fairly significant date with the Jets.
For now, it seems that the Steelers are trying to find out what fair trade value would be, if they decide between now and the trade deadline that they need to explore that potential route more carefully.
Twenty years after he was drafted by the Packers, quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a Steeler. He could have been a Steeler 20 years ago.
Appearing on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, former Steelers pro personnel director Doug Whaley said that, as Rodgers plunged through the first round, the Steelers were watching the situation.
“We wouldn’t have had to [trade up],” Whaley said, via Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com. “We would’ve just sat there. We had him higher than that. We were surprised he was slipping.”
The Packers ended the slide at No. 24. The Steelers didn’t pick that year until No. 30. (They took tight end Heath Miller.)
If Rodgers had been on the board at No. 30, what would the Steelers have done? They’d used a first-round pick in 2004 on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who helped the team to a 15-1 record and a berth in the AFC Championship.
Rodgers is the objectively better passer. But Roethlisberger won two Super Bowls. But Rodgers beat Roethsliberger in a Super Bowl.
And in the first Super Bowl won by the Steelers since the 1979 season, Roethlisberger didn’t have a stellar day. He completed nine of 21 passes for 123 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions in the 21-10 win over the Seahawks. (He also rushed for 25 yards and a touchdown on seven attempts.)
What would Rodgers have done in Pittsburgh, as a rookie and beyond? We’ll never know. But we will know how he does in 2025, four years after Roethlisberger retired.
The rumors started on Sunday. They could not be corroborated until today.
Chargers running back Najee Harris was indeed injured in a fireworks accident during July 4 weekend.
From his agent, Doug Hendrickson: “Najee Harris was present at a 4th of July event where a fireworks mishap resulted in injuries to several attendees. Najee sustained a superficial eye injury during the incident, but is fully expected to be ready for the upcoming NFL season.”
The Chargers did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. When Harris reports for training camp next week in advance of the July 31 Hall of Fame game, Harris will (along with all other players) undergo a full physical.
The rumors persisted all week until the dam broke via a report from Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News regarding the fact that Harris had been injured on July 5 in Antioch, California. Inman’s report had no specifics as to the extent or severity of the injury. Inman reported that Harris received treatment at John Muir Hospital in Concord and later at Stanford Hospital.
Multiple other people were injured during the incident.
The original rumors were that Harris had lost an eye. The official word from his camp is that it’s a “superficial eye injury.” The next development will come when he has his training camp physical.
Harris, a first-round pick of the Steelers in 2021, signed a one-year deal with the Chargers in March. He has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his four NFL seasons.
