The Pittsburgh Steelers are working through contract negotiations with the face of the franchise, TJ Watt. Of course, those talks have become much more problematic ever since Myles Garrett completely reset the edge rusher market. Every player wants to be the highest paid at their position, so the superstar outside linebacker in the Steel City is looking to receive more overall money, as well as guarantees. The regular season is just about two months away, so a deal will have to happen sooner rather than later.
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Steelers' TJ Watt causes a turnover on Jalen Hurts during a Week 15 matchup
While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, radio host and television commentator Mike Florio was asked about the whole Watt situation. While he would want more guarantees than Garrett, Florio pointed out a crucial detail in the Cleveland Browns star's contract.
"Full guarantee and injury guarantee are two different things," Florio explained. "The number that always gets put out there is the maximum total injury guarantee. The real guarantee is less than that."
Garrett's guarantees are officially listed at $123.5 million for the extension he signed in the 2025 offseason. However, his actual guarantees that were locked in at signing were just $59 million, meaning the Browns could get out of that deal fairly quickly as long as Garrett doesn't get injured and miss significant time. That's the number that the Steelers should pay attention to.
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Steelers' TJ Watt meets with Browns' Myles Garrett after a game.
Florio continued on and said that getting to that number should not be very difficult for the team at all.
"That's easy for the Steelers to do then," Florio said. "They could do $60 million fully guaranteed and beat Garrett if that's the number."
Of course, the number that the Steelers would put out won't just be $60 million. There will be plenty of injury clauses in there that could make that number even larger. if Garrett's total guarantees were $123.5 million, then Watt's will likely be in the same ballpark with combined injury clauses and fully guaranteed money at signing. The Steelers could definitely make something like that work.
Steelers' Likely Contract Structure With Watt
Of course, Watt won't be willing to just be cut after one or two years, so whatever number they officially give out for guarantees will have to stretch a long way. The superstar linebacker was the first player to truly break the front office and make them give him guarantees past the first season. He is now looking to break through them again and stay on the team for the long-term future.
The Steelers tend to backload their contracts, meaning they make it cheaper early on and more expensive down the road. This is a scenario they could likely explore again.
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Steelers' TJ Watt says bye to an away crowd after a game.
The Steelers may be hesitant on getting Watt his injury guarantees, as he has missed many games over his career, although he has been very healthy over the previous two seasons. If the third year is not fully guaranteed, then that injury clause could easily make it happen if he has some sort of significant issue with his body. Those numbers could creep into the fourth year as well.
If/when the deal gets done, the contract will likely look something like this Garrett's. The signing bonus could be enough to make it so cutting him after Year 2 would not be a wise choice, as that is broken up and affects the cap for every year of the deal.
What do you think about Watt's potential contract, as well as how the guarantees would be divided up? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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