New Details Emerge About Steelers' TJ Watt And His Upcoming Extension

The Pittsburgh Steelers have certainly been involved in a bunch of headlines throughout the 2025 offseason. Most of the stories circulating have related to either the quarterback or wide receiver positions. The offensive performances coming out of the Steel City have been far from consistent since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 campaign. Because of this, the unit has generated a lot of negative storylines, with many forgetting about the defensive side of the ball. Fortunately, the organization has one of the best players of his generation in TJ Watt. The edge rusher is now due for another contract extension.

It seems like just yesterday that Watt was "holding in" during the Steelers' 2021 training camp and preseason. The star defender worked out on the side of practices as he waited for Pittsburgh's front office and his camp to agree to a lucrative extension. It ended up being worth roughly $112 million, and now as the 2025 season approaches, he is due for another payday.

During a mailbag held on X by The Pat McAfee Show correspondent Mark Kaboly, the veteran reporter was asked several questions about the Steelers and the state of the organization. Several fans were interested in Watt because there hasn't been too much to go off of when it comes to a potential new agreement. Kaboly reassured the fan base that it will get done, but it's not necessarily a matter of how much the edge rusher will average on a year-by-year basis.

"You can be worried about a lot of things concerning the 2025 Steelers, but locking up Watt long-term isn’t one of them," Kaboly wrote. "It’s just a matter of when the Steelers offer him $40 million a season and the guaranteed portion that goes along with that. Will he sign before Parsons or Hendrickson? Your guess is as good as mine, but I don’t think that will affect Watt’s market value one way or the other. Be patient. Watt will sign sooner or later."

Pittsburgh is known for rewarding strong on-field play as well as loyalty. Watt has certainly been the exemplary Steeler since he was drafted back in 2017. While his last extension was four years, Kaboly speculated that a 2025 deal could be one less, probably due to Watt's age now compared to 2021.

"If I were a guessing man, I’d say a three-year extension worth $117 million with the first two years fully guaranteed," Kaboly noted.

The Steelers have always been incredibly stingy when it comes to guaranteed money. When a team has a superstar like Watt, however, sometimes it makes sense to break tradition. It will be interesting to see what the two sides agree upon, but it does seem like there will be a deal happening at some point in time before the 2025 regular season.

Watt remains as one of the best edge rushers in the NFL. While there are some around the league that are younger, he is deserving of one final big contract. It might make sense from a business perspective for the Steelers to focus on a two or three-year deal, but as Kaboly noted, this is expected to get done; it just may take a little bit of time before it is finalized.

Steelers Still Have The Money To Pay Other Positions Without A Franchise Quarterback

Signal-callers typically take up a ton of cap space for NFL teams. Pittsburgh doesn't currently have anyone hoarding all of the money on that end, so it should be doable to find a price point that makes sense for both Watt and the franchise. It isn't often that the organization allows a Hall of Fame talent to walk due to a contractual dispute, so fans should expect that one of the best Steelers defenders of the 21st century will end of retiring in the black and gold.

When do you think the Steelers and Watt will agree on a contract extension? Let us know in the comments below!

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