T.J. Watt remains without a contract beyond 2025, and his situation is therefore still a talking point as the team returns to the facility. Pittsburgh’s Organized Team Activities began Wednesday, and the All-Pro edge rusher was not with the team.
According to Curt Popejoy of SteelersWire, Watt skipped the start of OTAs. It is certainly no secret that the former Defensive Player of the Year has been in search of a new deal, a desire which the team has publicly reciprocated. One season remains on his contract, and Watt has already hinted at dissatisfaction with playing on a contract year this offseason.
Since both the Steelers (55) and Watt (22.5) led the NFL in sacks in 2021, Pittsburgh has put up middling sack numbers in the past three seasons. Part of that was due to an injury in 2022 that forced Watt to miss seven games, but it was still the case when Watt earned his third sack-title with 19.0 in 2023. Still, ever since his four-year, $112M extension started in 2021, Watt has accounted for nearly a third of the team’s sack total.
He’s also the only player in NFL history (since sacks became an official stat in 1982) to lead the league in sacks in a single season three times.
All this, just to underline how much Watt means to the Steelers’ pass rush. Without him, the team’s top returning sack-getters were Cameron Heyward (8.0), who just turned 36 years old, Alex Highsmith (6.0) and Nick Herbig (5.5). No other returning defender had more than one.
Highsmith has flashed big potential in the past (14.5 sacks in 2022), but his output hasn’t been consistent enough for Pittsburgh to rely on him as their primary source of a pass rush in the future. The team also drafted Ohio State edge rusher Jack Sawyer in this year’s draft, but expecting the fourth-rounder to eventually replace Watt is a lot to ask.
There really doesn’t seem to be much threat of the Steelers losing Watt, at the moment, though. Despite a down year for Watt and the lack of an acceptable offer from Pittsburgh, both sides seem to want the same things.
Per Popejoy, “Watt wants a new contract and a raise,” and “the Steelers want Watt to retire” in Pittsburgh. All that needs to happen, now, is for the two parties to find agreeable terms with which to move forward.
