Steelers Want To Keep ‘Legacy’ Player In Pittsburgh For Long Haul

The Pittsburgh Steelers view linebacker T.J. Watt as a top-tier priority this offseason.

Pittsburgh selected Watt, a Wisconsin product, in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft and the 30-year-old has since grown into a franchise cornerstone. Watt has accumulated seven Pro Bowl nods, four First-Team All-Pro honors, led the league in forced fumbles twice and was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, all within eight seasons.

So it should come as no surprise that even without a starting quarterback, the Steelers aren’t putting aside their desire to extend Watt’s contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

“T.J. is one of those legacy guys,” Steelers general manager Omar Khan said Tuesday at the NFL combine, per TribLIVE’s Joe Rutter. “I  was around Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu, and those guys spent their entire careers with us, and that’s a special thing. I’m hopeful and confident that T.J. will be one of those guys.”

Watt is entering the final year of his four-year, $112 million contract signed in 2021, which will earn him $21 million in base salary this upcoming season. That annual figure is expected to rise, whether or not the Steelers strike a deal with Watt. But based on Khan’s words, it seems Pittsburgh is eager to keep him in a Steelers uniform.

“We want T.J. here for a long time,” Khan said. “We’re going to do our part to get something done at the right time. I think he feels the same way.”

Despite battling a Week 15 ankle injury against the Philadelphia Eagles, Watt finished as a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year behind Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II. Watt recorded 11.5 sacks with 40 tackles but failed to tally a single tackle in Pittsburgh’s AFC wild-card loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

The Steelers suffered a five-game losing streak to end their season. Watt, however, offered some optimistic words after the team’s first-round exit, both for head coach Mike Tomlin and the city of Pittsburgh.

“This city deserves it, this team deserves it, the guys in this locker room, we deserve it, we’re working hard — we just need to get it right,” Watt told reporters in January, per Rich Walsh of KDKA News. “I say that every year and it gets more and more frustrating as the years go by, but tough conversations need to be had, can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. That starts with myself, going into the offseason with a lot of questions but I also know there will be a lot of answers in the next couple of weeks.”

More NFL: How Steelers Feel After ‘Really Solid’ Meeting With George Pickens