The Pittsburgh Steelers have been busy this offseason.
They traded for DK Metcalf in a take care of the Seattle Seahawks. They added Jonnu Smith and Jalen Ramsey in a commerce with the Miami Dolphins. They added each Darius Slay and Juan Thornhill to their secondary as properly.
Oh, they usually signed Aaron Rodgers.
On Thursday the Steelers accomplished one other little bit of enterprise, signing T.J. Watt to a three-year contract extension. Watt, who was searching for a long-term deal this offseason, is receiving a $123 million extension with the Steelers, $108 million of which is assured.
Now that this ultimate little bit of enterprise is finished, was it the proper transfer for Pittsburgh?
nah — James Dator
Congrats to T.J. Watt for preying on the Steelers’ ludicrous desperation and getting his bag, however as a soccer transfer: Completely not. Don’t get me incorrect, Watt is a incredible defensive participant, however he’s not even remotely near the No. 1 defensive participant within the NFL, even with a swelling wage cap.
The sack numbers have at all times been eye-popping with Watt, however they’re idiot’s gold. Watt picks up quite a lot of protection sacks, that are necessary in their very own proper, however not as a result of he’s a game-changer. At no level is he an EDGE rusher who calls for a double on each down like Myles Garrett, or previous gamers like prime-era Von Miller and his personal brother, J.J. Watt.
Pittsburgh can be actually hoping that 2024 was an exception, not the rule as Watt strikes previous 30. In 17 begins he solely had 11.5 sacks and 27 QB hits, which is a pronounced drop off based mostly on his previous efficiency. Even when Watt lifts his sport there are some actually worrying tendencies to his sport that present he’s merely not value a lot of the cap being invested in him.
It is a man who has a propensity for stat-padding. Once more, it’s not his fault as you possibly can solely play the dudes in entrance of you, however 6.5 of his sacks got here in opposition to groups who ranked amongst the 5 worst move blocking groups within the NFL. In the meantime, Watt registered simply 5.0 sacks in opposition to groups who completed Prime 15 in pressures allowed.
The Steelers are going all-in on bizarre issues. They’re paying a metric ton to D.Okay. Metcalf, and now T.J. Watt. Because it stands Pittsburgh are slated to have $30M in cap area subsequent season with simply 48 gamers beneath contract. That’s dangerous enterprise, and this top-heavy construction units the group up for failure.
It’s principally Tremendous Bowl or bust at this level, and searching on the expertise of this workforce it’s bust which feels extra probably.
yah — Mark Schofield
Okay so I’ll argue the opposite facet right here.
That is simply, frankly, the price of doing enterprise in at the moment’s NFL.
As James notes it does appear to be the Steelers are “going all-in” this offseason. And sure, the Rodgers signing could possibly be categorized as a “bizarre” factor. Whereas a part of Watt’s contract could also be “paying for the previous,” as argued by Dejan Kovacevic on Thursday night time in DK Pittsburgh Sports activities, there’s additionally the truth that Watt’s cap quantity really represents a smaller share of the workforce’s expenditures than does his present deal.
“The extension provides three years, $123 million deal [sic], a median of $41 million per season (AAV), to his current contract, which had one yr remaining. The AAV of Watt’s extension is 14.4% of the Steelers’ wage cap, which is almost 1% lower than his earlier contract extension from 2021,” wrote Chris Halicke at DK Pittsburgh Sports activities.
There may be additionally a tradition/locker-room aspect to this deal.
Think about what we heard from Cam Heyward on this case in current days. Heyward — a standout defender for Pittsburgh in his personal proper along with his duties as podcaster right here at SB Nation — had this to say on “The Wealthy Eisen Present:
“That’s my brother,” Heyward stated on The Wealthy Eisen Present. “I need that dude to receives a commission what he deserves. That dude is likely one of the most fierce and greatest gamers in our league. He’s revered all through the league.”
“I simply need to see that man proceed to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and be a one-helmet man,” Heyward added later.
He additionally shot down a possible Watt commerce.
“I’m going as much as Omar and telling him, that’s not taking place,” Heyward stated of a Watt commerce. ”If there’s even a commerce that will get up there, I don’t assume it helps our workforce to commerce a man like that.”
Given the context round Watt, this was a transfer Pittsburgh wanted to make.
nah* — Jared Mueller
Because the Producer for SB Nation’s Cleveland Browns protection at Dawgs By Nature, the asterisk (*) is required as a word to potential bias.
Watt is an excellent participant, and the extension was all however sure as soon as the workforce signed Rodgers. Nonetheless, Watt can be the right stress level between movie watchers and field rating/statistic-focused of us. As James famous above, Watt’s sack totals don’t at all times come from his sheer dominance, the best way Garrett or Parsons do.
Whether or not or not his tenacity, capability to maintain after performs as they break down and the protection round him maintain up as he ages on this contract, Watt doesn’t impression the sport on the stage that his wage would indicate, even when he continues to rack up stats. The Steelers needed to get a deal carried out and Watt had all of the leverage; that doesn’t imply the extension was value it.
