PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers and T.J. Watt do not appear to be in a good place. As the two sides looks to negotiate a contract extension, keeping Watt in Pittsburgh for the remainder of his NFL career, there seems to be tension - and that tension has brought plenty of talk.
Watt started this by posting a cryptic message on Instagram that seemingly indicated he and the Steelers weren't in a good place. That post led to multiple reports that the two sides had friction and that Pittsburgh wasn't expecting the price tag for Watt to be so high.
There has also been plenty of talk about whether or not Aaron Rodgers has anything to do with this. Watt is entering the 2025 season as 30 a 30-year-old and still has yet to win a playoff game. That's a lingering topic revolving around the former Defensive Player of the Year, and the Steelers don't seem to be getting any closer to breaking that streak as they get strung along by Rodgers.
Well, this is what we know. The Steelers and Watt went into negotiations and things have not gone as planned. Pittsburgh didn't expect Watt to remove any hometown discount from this deal this time around, but maybe they should've thought of that before they gave another player a $150 million deal.
Is the quarterback situation, or lack thereof, playing a role? Definitely. But the rift between the two sides comes from the Steelers willingness to make a splashy move earlier in the offseason and not want to pay the same respect to their superstar edge rusher.
As this continues, everyone is talking about the possibility of Watt getting traded. Even at 30, Watt would go for a pretty penny in the NFL, and there would be no shortage of teams calling to discuss a deal.
One former player even tossed out a quarterback trade that, while it might answer some questions, doesn't leave the Steelers any better than they started.
The expectation is that Watt is staying in Pittsburgh and the two sides are going to come to an agreement. Even if tensions are high and the negotiations aren't going swimmingly, no one truly believes Watt is on his way out.
It's early. And until it's late, meaning August, the Steelers aren't even thinking about any other scenario outside of signing Watt to a new deal.
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