- 7/1/2025
After a cryptic Instagram post earlier this offseason, TJ Watt still seems to be unhappy with the Steelers as he continues to wait for a contract extension. Teams around the league believe he could be had via trade, and an insider at CBS Sports named the Philadelphia Eagles as a potential landing spot. Should the Eagles attempt to trade for one of the best defensive players in the NFL, even if it comes at a steep price? Today, RB discusses all of this and more!
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00:00The Philadelphia Eagles have once again been linked to an NFL superstar, and although it
00:06would not go with the theme of Howie Roseman's offseason, should the Birds take a stab at
00:12one of the best defensive weapons in the NFL, potentially one of the best players all time
00:18on the defensive side when it's all said and done, we will talk about that and what it
00:23could potentially look like.
00:24We'll break it all down, but welcome in to A to Z Philly, I'm RB, and we started off
00:30with the man himself, TJ Watt.
00:33If you remember, we talked about this a couple months ago, and everybody said, no, no, no.
00:38Well, why are we bringing this up again?
00:40Why?
00:40What is going on?
00:41It all goes to the strategy of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and if I'm being completely honest,
00:47when you look at what the Eagles did last season, and you look at how they won, and how teams
00:52are starting to typically get younger and try to win with players on rookie contracts,
00:57the Steelers are a team that goes out and says, you know what?
01:01We're going to go the exact opposite way.
01:03We're actually going to bring the oldest players ever into the damn roster.
01:08We're going to build a team of senior citizens and try to go all in and win.
01:12This is what the 2025 Steelers are shaping up to be.
01:15They bring in 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers.
01:17They bring in 34-year-old Darius Slay.
01:20They trade the other day for Jalen Ramsey.
01:22They give up Minka Fitzpatrick, and they also bring in Jonu Smith, who's 30 years old, in
01:27that trade.
01:28But the man of the hour is 30-year-old TJ Watt, and he has been ongoing here with these contract
01:35frustrations.
01:37And we'll take it over to an ESPN article that details the situation.
01:41It says, teams are mulling a possible trade for Steelers TJ Watt.
01:46But the most important thing is down here, Watt signed a four-year, $112 million deal
01:53in 2021 that averaged $28 million per year.
01:57A couple months ago, Miles Garrett reset the pass rusher market with $40 million annually,
02:03which is still insane, by the way.
02:04Think about that.
02:0517 games a year at the minimum, and guys are getting paid $40 million.
02:11Insane.
02:13123.5 guaranteed money makes him the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
02:19So, TJ Watt, who's going into the last year of his deal, turns 31 in October, has not spoken
02:27publicly since the end of the 2024 season.
02:30He seemingly expressed frustration with the negotiations in April.
02:33That's when we talked about it.
02:35He had posted that cryptic Instagram story of him holding up a peace sign saying,
02:40hey, you know, I might be out of here if you don't reward me, if you don't pay me.
02:44So, the question is, is the investment worth it?
02:48Now, in terms of TJ Watt, I mean, let's not be mistaken here, right?
02:52Like, you can't deny his talent.
02:54108 career sacks, five and a half more than Garrett, six most among active NFL players.
02:59He has won six All-Pro awards, four on the first team.
03:05He has won NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and he is a seven-time Pro Bowler in eight seasons.
03:13All right, so this guy is on pace, statistically, to be one of the best defensive players of all time.
03:19When we look at his numbers year over year, right?
03:22Like, I mean, he is an absolute beast.
03:24He actually is the co-leader for the single-season sack record as well, 22-and-a-half back in 2021.
03:32The question is, should a team like the Eagles come out and actually try to get him?
03:37Why do we even bring that up?
03:38Well, if we go over to an article on CBS Sports, one of their insiders, Cody Benjamin,
03:44named five teams that could potentially trade for TJ Watt.
03:48And guess who's on the list?
03:50That's right, the Philadelphia Eagles.
03:53He says, why should GM Howie Roseman ever be counted out of big-name sweepstakes?
03:59The Eagles spent much of the off-season shedding salary, not collecting it, like we just mentioned.
04:03But now that Brandon Graham is gone, Josh Sweat, you can even mention Milton Williams,
04:08they're going to be heavily relying on the young guys.
04:11And that really is the mentality and the philosophy right now of Howie Roseman.
04:14But as we know, year to year in the NFL, things change, things happen, and you have to adjust on the fly.
04:22So, should the Eagles try to get one of the best defensive weapons in the NFL, like he says here,
04:28imagine Watt and Jalen Carter on the same front.
04:32It would cost a pretty penny, but Watt would also get to stay in Pennsylvania to continue his career.
04:38A couple other teams he mentions, the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions, the Seattle Seahawks,
04:44and really, this one scares me, because the Commanders were in the conversations for Miles Garrett.
04:51Please do not let TJ Watt come to this division and go to the Washington Commanders.
04:56I feel like that would give them a huge boost, especially with Dan Quinn and his background being a defensive coordinator.
05:03Yeah, that would be dangerous.
05:04But, in terms of the Philadelphia Eagles, do I think this is going to happen?
05:09No, I don't, for two main reasons.
05:12Would I welcome it to happen?
05:14Yes, but it would have to be at an amount that's lower than Miles Garrett, maybe significantly lower,
05:21which is not going to happen.
05:22And the Eagles would also have to give up a ton of draft capital, which I also do not seeing happen.
05:27So, really, I don't see a way that this could happen.
05:31If we go to reason number one and we look at the contract situation, it gets pretty interesting, right?
05:38Because, again, TJ Watt going into the last year of a deal, and no player like TJ Watt wants to go into the last year
05:44without any guarantees of what his next year will look like, right?
05:48So, he wants a big-time payday.
05:50He just saw Miles Garrett and Daniel Hunter and some of these other guys getting paid.
05:54He's like, where's my payday?
05:56And if we look at the edge rushers right now in the NFL, Nick Bosa has the most value on his contract,
06:04170 mil, but Miles Garrett just got 160 mil, most of it guaranteed.
06:09And you look at the average per year salary, Miles Garrett completely reset the market at 40.
06:15Now, Miles Garrett is also a couple years younger, so I do not think that TJ Watt would get upwards of,
06:21you know, 40, 45 million per year.
06:23Sure, his agent is probably going to ask for it, but I don't see a team willing to give that up.
06:27We're seeing the same thing going on with Trey Hendrickson.
06:30Once you hit that age, and technically he's still in his prime, it just doesn't really feel like the market is there.
06:36A team would much rather bank on trying to hit on one or two or three draft picks like Howie Roseman has.
06:41And obviously, I think Vic Fangio really makes that possible, you know,
06:45with the system of defense that the Eagles play and how they're really plug-and-play.
06:48And TJ Watt has primarily played in a 3-4 defense, so you could say it'd be a seamless fit.
06:54I still think the Eagles could upgrade and get a couple vets to help out guys like Nolan Smith and Jalex Hunt
07:00and really just assist in their growth and their progress.
07:03But I just don't see a way with the theme of the offseason that Howie's going to shell out 40 M's to TJ Watt,
07:10especially when you have all these guys coming up that you have to pay.
07:13But the Eagles could always be a wild card.
07:16However, we look at TJ Watt's stats, what this doesn't show is that he's only played in four career postseason games
07:23and he only has one career playoff sack.
07:26He also has an extensive injury history, and this is the kicker for me.
07:31You know, if TJ Watt played every year and didn't have any injury history, I'd say,
07:35OK, maybe think about it, you know, because, again, the Eagles are trying to stay on that high horse.
07:39Teams are trying to knock the Eagles off of the throne, and everybody's going to be coming for the Eagles next this season.
07:46So they're going to need to continue to improve.
07:49You never know what can happen year to year.
07:50Injuries, things like that.
07:51You need luck on your side.
07:53And one way to potentially harm being healthy is to go out and acquire a soon-to-be 31-year-old
07:59that is also a bit injury-prone in his career.
08:03As we see here, Watt had a setback early in his career,
08:0620 snaps into his second NFL game in week two of 2017.
08:09He had a grade one groin pull.
08:11He has also had other injuries in 2021.
08:14He had a hip strain, a knee sprain, a pectoral injury in 2022.
08:19Then he had arthroscopic knee surgery, and he has had a ton of injuries, even in college here,
08:26which I didn't know.
08:26It said that he had four knee injuries when he played for the Wisconsin Badgers,
08:30and his first knee issue in the NFL occurred in 2021.
08:36So yeah, he has an extensive injury history.
08:38He wants to reset the market and probably get close to $40 million per year,
08:42and he's 31 years old.
08:44Not to say that TJ Watt could not make an impact, because I think he could,
08:49but the long-term value, especially when you weigh it against the players you're going to have to pay,
08:54like Jalen Carter and Quinion Mitchell and Cooper DeGene really just is not worth it
08:58and kind of muddies up that situation.
09:01So I like what the Eagles are doing now.
09:03I still think they're going to need to add more depth as we get into it moving forward,
09:07and if we really thought about how this could happen, if it actually did happen, let's say,
09:13what could it look like?
09:14Well, SpotTrack here puts the projection at four years, $150 million,
09:20so 45-year, which I just think is insane.
09:24In this scenario, he would also get $10 million less total than Miles Garrett,
09:28but Eagles Eric here says that his contract projection is three years, 117,
09:33$39 million per year, 65% guaranteed at signing.
09:39So whatever happens, I mean, this is going to be really another game changer for the market,
09:45and it's also going to impact what the future looks like for the Eagles in the next couple years.
09:49When they want to pay some of these young guys, obviously, an edge rusher like TJ Watt
09:54is completely different from Jalen Carter on the interior defensive line.
09:58I don't think it'll really impact that market, but who knows what's going to happen with Nolan Smith
10:02if he continues to take a massive jump this year.
10:05Who knows what kind of money he's going to demand in a year or two.
10:09So it goes with the theme of the senior citizen Steelers.
10:13I think they're going to keep them around and just suck it up and pay the money,
10:16but the more that this thing plays on, the more that we wait it out,
10:20same thing with Trey Hendrickson, the more these guys are going to feel disrespected
10:24and not really be so inclined to help the team out as much as they can.
10:29So those are my thoughts.
10:30I want to hear from you down in the comments section.
10:32Do you think the Eagles should take a stab at TJ Watt?
10:36Would it be worth it?
10:38Do you think that this could guarantee them staying on their high horse
10:41and potentially becoming a dynasty or should they continue to invest in the draft,
10:46build up the young guys that they have?
10:49Keep in mind, 13 draft picks next year.
10:51What do you think?
10:52What will happen?
10:53Give me your thoughts down below.
10:54Appreciate everybody for tapping in.
10:56Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.
10:58And as always, I'll catch you on the next one.
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