T.J. Watt Shares Real Reason He’s Happy To Have Signed $123 Million Contract

After some drawn-out negotiations, the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to ink superstar linebacker T.J. Watt to a three-year, $123 million contract extension ahead of training camp. While Watt is certainly happy to have gotten a substantial pay raise, he’s also happy for a couple of other reasons.

Over the past few years, Watt has established himself as one of the most dominant defenders in the league. He’s a seven-time Pro Bowler who has earned a spot on the All-Pro First Team four times, while also winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, when he racked up a career-high 22.5 sacks.

Simply put, Watt is unstoppable, and while Pittsburgh paid a high price to keep him in town, if he keeps playing at the level he’s been at since 2019, he will be worth every penny. And yet, while the money was important for Watt, he revealed he wanted to get his contract sorted out as soon as possible so that he could get back on the field for his team.

“More than anything, I wanted to play football, I wanted to continue giving everything that I possibly can to this city, this organization,” Watt said when speaking to reporters on Wednesday. “There’s so much more, as coach (Mike Tomlin) would say, meat on the bone. There’s so much more that I can give that I want to give, and that’s what was most important to me.”

Watt surprised a lot of people when he skipped mandatory minicamp, but his message was received loud and clear. Nobody doubted his desire to be on the field, but unless he got a deal that he felt paid him what he was worth, he wasn’t going to take the field.

Thankfully, for both the team and the player, the situation was resolved in due time, and Watt is back on the field for Pittsburgh. If he can keep on playing at his usual All-Pro level, the Steelers’ defense is going to remain one of the best units in the league, which should help their efforts to go on a deep playoff run in 2025.

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