Cincinnati Bengals: There's a CRAZY parallel going on between two AFC North pass rushers!

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran is joined by Pittsburgh Steelers expert Rob Gregson to discuss the parallels between Trey Hendrickson and T.H

Transcript

00:00We all know what's going on with the Bengals and Trey Hendrickson, but he's not the only AFC North

00:03pass rusher looking to get paid this offseason. So in this video, I sit down with a Pittsburgh

00:07Steelers expert to get the latest on T.J. Watt. Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z

00:15Sports Cincinnati here. We got a special episode here because I'm not alone. It's not just me on

00:19the screen right now. We got my man, Rob Grexton of A to Z Sports Pittsburgh Steelers covers the

00:25Steelers. He's amazing at what he does. One of the best guys covering the Steelers beat.

00:30Finally having him on on the program where our channels are now about a year old, but this is

00:33the first time we're doing this some sort of a crossover episode because Bengals and Steelers

00:37kind of have a similar issue at hand right now with their star pass rushers. But before we get into

00:41that, Rob, how are you doing, man? I'm doing great, John. Obviously, very excited to break down what's

00:46going on in the AFC North. You know, obviously, you think Steelers, you think Bengals, you think

00:50this rivalry. There's a lot of parallels between T.J. Watt and Trey Hendrickson today. So excited to

00:56break it all down. Yeah, man, it's I mean, there's a lot of shared history with these two

01:00franchises rivals going back decades, you know, back all the way to the AFC Central days, a little

01:04bit different in terms of, you know, levels of success that both franchises have experienced.

01:08But something that was an interesting parallel, you know, a handful of years ago was like the

01:12Bengals. The Steelers didn't often give out, you know, these contracts with massive guarantees

01:16to non-quarterbacks. And then T.J. Watt kind of set that new precedent when he kind of inserted

01:20himself in negotiations back in 2021. He said, look, look, let's just get this done.

01:24You know, I want to stay here. I want to get paid. And they made it happen. And he got paid

01:27about $20 million per year over the course of four or five years. But that contract is now

01:31going to be expiring at the end of the season. It seems like, you know, Watt is trying to get paid

01:35one more time. So just before we get into all the details here, well, kind of give us an overlay

01:40about what's happening right now. What is the contention? What is the beef between the Steelers and

01:44Watt? And where do things stand as of this moment? Yeah, obviously, it's been a long process. I mean,

01:49I really think that this all kickstarted months ago. It was a subtle jab from J.J. Watt.

01:55Obviously, his brother goes on Pat McAfee's show, CBS guy. And he said, you know, usually these

02:01relationships work out a lot better when you pay your guys earlier than later. And the Steelers,

02:06they decided not to do that. Now Watt's going into the final year of his deal. He still hasn't got his

02:10new contract. A lot of people thought that the initial holdup was, well, they don't want to pay

02:14him more than Miles Garrett. It seems like that's really not a problem. You talk to, you know,

02:18sources around the league, you hear what others are reporting. And it's pretty obvious that he's

02:23going to get at least very close, if not more than that $40 million per year threshold. The main issue

02:30to my understanding right now is the guaranteed money. Obviously, you're talking about a player

02:35who's going to be 31 years old, who three out of the last four seasons has dealt with an injury.

02:39We go back to 22, bad peck. You go to 23, he misses the playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.

02:45And then last year, he was completely battered. Didn't record a single sack down the stretch of

02:50the season. Obviously, was a no-show against the Baltimore Ravens. That is the primary concern

02:55with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We love TJ Watt. We know TJ Watt is a great player. We want to pay

03:00him for his past performance. But do we want to guarantee him the money that comes with being the

03:06highest non-paid quarterback in the NFL if we look up in three or four years and he's in his

03:11mid-30s and he's injured every year? That's really the point of contention. Whereas, obviously,

03:15if you're Watt and the Steelers' representatives, you're trying to get everything you can get.

03:19Yeah, you mentioned JJ Watt. Almost, you know, current Bengals JJ Watt with, you know,

03:23something happened with the soccer team that wouldn't have went a different way. But yeah,

03:26like that has been, it's a similar thing going on with Trey Hendrickson in terms of longevity,

03:30in terms of how long, you know, the peaks of these guys' careers can keep up. And they're

03:35obviously in a very similar situation. They were both coming out of that 2017 draft class or around

03:39the same age a little bit. But obviously, Watt, like he's critically acclaimed. Like he's just

03:43one of the best players at his position. He has been that for quite some time. And I think that

03:47kind of leads us into that discussion in terms of the longevity aspect of Watt's career and how

03:53long that you kind of expect him to keep up this level of play. Because that's obviously,

03:57you know, the thing that the Steelers are discussing right now. In your own just analysis about who

04:02Watt is as a player. How long do you think that his, his peak in his prime, his career is able

04:07to last at this point, considering the injuries that he's had over the past couple of years? Do

04:10you foresee him being the same type of player for the next handful of years? Or do you think the

04:14Steelers, do you have a point in terms of questioning the longevity of his career?

04:17Well, I think you, you bring up a great point because when you think of TJ Watt, right,

04:22you think of power, you think of speed and bend off the edge. He's obviously a five tool player.

04:27He's got it all. The only thing that's going to slow down TJ Watt is injuries. And that's kind

04:32of the main issue, right? Is players, you know, people in general, you don't get healthier as you

04:37get older. It just doesn't happen, right? Especially in the NFL, when you play the most physical position

04:42in the sport. I think we tend to forget that with edge rushers and offensive tackles. They are hitting

04:47somebody every single play. And that's what TJ Watt has done now for the past eight, nine years,

04:52and then obviously much longer going through college. And now he's going to be getting into his early

04:56and mid thirties. So are we going to see this like steep decline or degradation of his skillset?

05:02I don't believe so. I think he can still be a top five to 10 pass rusher, probably for the next three

05:07to five years. The question is how much time is he going to be on the field? I mean, we think of

05:12Von Miller and what he did with the Rams and other pass rushers that are playing in their thirties.

05:16There's no doubt in my mind that TJ Watt can be that kind of player. The issue at hand is if he's been

05:22injured three of the last four seasons, we already know he takes extremely good care of himself.

05:26We already know he's extremely disciplined. He's not going to suddenly find a magic bean and create

05:32a new identity. Is he going to be able to remain healthy? Is he going to be able to play another

05:38four to five years where he only misses a game or two? That's what you have to decide. And

05:42unfortunately, that's probably not the case. So you see why the Steelers have been held up in

05:46their part of the negotiation. Well, it's not just Watt that they're dealing with right now. I mean,

05:50we just saw a week and a half ago what they did to revamp the back half of the defense by

05:55trade away Minka Fitzpatrick for Jalen Ramsey. You know, Minka was such a critical part of that

05:59defense, but clearly, you know, Mike Tomlin, I think he knows what he's doing on that side of

06:03the ball. And if he identifies that a player is best off off the team and inserting someone else,

06:07there's a lot of, there's a level of trust in there. So obviously everything is on the table

06:12at this point, but how do you foresee the situation kind of unfolding? He just talks about,

06:16you know, Watt being traded and everything like that, but what is the most realistic path for how

06:20this whole conclusion or how this whole situation concludes?

06:24Yeah. You know, there's a lot of talk. Oh, like the Steelers are one of the last to report to camp.

06:28The deal will get done closer to camp. Well, we've been hearing that for four or six weeks now.

06:34It's getting closer to camp. And all you hear is these two sides remain very far apart. So unless

06:39something changes drastically here in the next week, week and a half, I really don't understand why

06:45we're not talking about a parallel to 2021. TJ Watt signed his contract in 2021, three days before

06:51the regular season start three days. And a lot of people seem to think, Oh, well, he won't do that

06:55again. He wants more money this time. And it's more of a contest again from the Steelers side this

07:00time. So the idea that this is going to sort itself out quickly, it's just false. Uh, what does TJ

07:06watch show up to camp? I'm sure he does. Does he participate in on-field drills and practices?

07:10Not until he has a contract. So I think that's where it gets very interesting.

07:14I would not be surprised as we sit here today, if TJ Watt come week one, maybe even week two,

07:21week three in Latrobe is not playing. And it's just a brewing storyline.

07:25It's just, it's so funny. The NFL off season is like nine months, right? It's as long as a

07:30pregnancy and so many things can happen. And it's like, sometimes you just wish you could

07:33fast forward to the end because at the end of the day, Trey Hendrickson is probably going

07:36to be a Cincinnati Bengal. TJ Watt is probably going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, but there's a lot

07:40of things that kind of happen between the beginning of January and the end of August.

07:44But you know, again, some similarities there with the Bengals obviously taking a long time

07:48to handle their own problems. And I can kind of foresee something similar happening with

07:52Trey Hendrickson, but there's still six weeks until all of this kind of concludes with training

07:56camp and preseason and everything that happens with the Steelers. And then you can find out

08:00on Rob's channel at A to Z sports Pittsburgh. So Rob, thank you so much for breaking it down

08:04for us. Thank you, John. Appreciate it.

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