{"id":50382,"date":"2025-05-23T02:21:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T02:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50382"},"modified":"2025-05-23T02:21:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T02:21:57","slug":"tj-watt-contract-negotiations-with-steelers-predicted-to-get-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50382","title":{"rendered":"TJ Watt Contract Negotiations With Steelers Predicted To Get Ugly.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"m-detail-header--dek\">As Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher TJ Watt enters the final year of his current contract, negotiations could turn sour thanks to a market set by the Cleveland Browns.<\/div>\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--flexbox\">\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--meta\">\n<div class=\"m-description--list\">\n<p>The\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0and general manager Omar Khan seem to enjoy the waiting game. They&#8217;re playing it with potential free agent\u00a0quarterback\u00a0Aaron Rodriguez and with one of their own stars, TJ Watt.<\/p>\n<p>Watt is entering the final year of his current deal and seeking an extension, and he&#8217;s absolutely earned it. In fact, he&#8217;s earned the opportunity to be one of the highest-paid players at his position.<\/p>\n<p>Because the Steelers didn&#8217;t lock Watt down earlier, they&#8217;re most likely going to pay a lot more. That&#8217;s the nature of the business of the game. The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0reset the market for pass rushers with a four-year, $160 million contract for Myles Garrett in early March.<\/p>\n<p>Ray Fittipaldo of the Post-Gazette thinks\u00a0that&#8217;s going to be a problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately for the Steelers the Browns set the market,&#8221;\u00a0Fittipaldo wrote. &#8220;It\u2019s not really a matter of whether he\u2019s worth it or not. It\u2019s the business side of football. You can make an argument many of the top-paid QBs aren\u2019t worth the money they make, but the market is set. Either you pay or you move on to another player. And I just don\u2019t see the Steelers moving on from Watt unless the negotiation gets really ugly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Watt is currently making an average of just over $28 million per year, seventh-most at his position. Garrett signed for an average of $40 million, tops among pass rushers.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers are going to have to come close to that or exceed it to keep Watt, or there&#8217;s a chance some other team will before the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher TJ Watt enters the final year of his current contract, negotiations could turn sour thanks to a market set by the Cleveland&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TJ Watt Contract Negotiations With Steelers Predicted To Get Ugly.. - 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