Steelers Commit Big with $108M Deal for Star T.J. Watt

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00:00The Steelers deal. Now, yesterday we went through this.

00:03OK, so he got all this money, 108 million guaranteed up front and then 41 million plus per year, 123 million dollars over three years.

00:14He of all people that deserve a contract, I get it that this is why they did this deal like this was inevitable that he was getting this deal.

00:23It was also inevitable that he wasn't leaving Pittsburgh.

00:26He's going to finish his career in black and gold, and that's all there is to it.

00:30But I have a problem with the with the money.

00:32I really do, because I got to be honest with you.

00:35I went to all these games.

00:37That guy lost the defensive player to your award.

00:40He was so bad the last month and a half of the season in the game I went to on January 5th.

00:47He had no tackles at all.

00:50Forget about hits and sacks.

00:53He didn't have any like donuts.

00:55And then in the playoff game in Baltimore, he repeated the feat with donuts across the board.

01:03Now, I don't disagree that he holds all the team records, sacks, everything else, hits, hits for losses, quarterback pressures.

01:13That's why he got the money.

01:14He certainly didn't get the money for what he does in December and January because he never does anything when it matters.

01:21Yeah, I mean, Scott, think about it, right?

01:24You were touching on it in passing.

01:26They have not won a playoff game since 2016.

01:29He was drafted in 2017.

01:31He turns 31 this fall.

01:33So you and I talked about this situation for a number of weeks.

01:35I kept telling you he's not being traded.

01:37They want to extend his deal.

01:38That's not in question.

01:39The question was, and why did it take till now to get it done?

01:42One, they had to agree on the guaranteed money at signing.

01:46You touched on it.

01:48Over $100 million fully guaranteed at signing.

01:49He's got a better structure, by the way, than Myles Garrett got last summer, or earlier this year, rather, with the Browns.

01:56And when you look at T.J. Watt, there's no question he's going to be a Hall of Famer like his brother.

02:01That's not the issue.

02:02The issue is, when you get to a certain age, Scott, typically edge rushers, 32, 33, are almost done.

02:10By the time his contract expires, right, he's got this year plus three more, he's going to be close to 35 years old.

02:17Now, this year, with the signing bonus, 26 to 27, all the money is fully guaranteed.

02:22So they can't get out of it.

02:25So this is a risk here.

02:26I mean, you're talking about, Scott, $41 million per season, higher than the number I thought he'd get.

02:32I'll be honest with you.

02:33I thought it would be a little bit less than this.

02:35But they stepped up to the plate, and just like they did four years ago, they went outside of their structure.

02:41They usually do the monster signing bonus, a one-year fully guaranteed.

02:45They didn't do that.

02:46They gave him two additional years fully guaranteed.

02:48That's not typically the way they do things, but they're taking care of this guy.

02:51Now, the last deal four years ago, Scott, you should remember this.

02:55Remember, he did a hold-in in training camp.

02:57He didn't get the deal done.

02:59They stopped negotiating until right hugging up to the season.

03:02Then he got that mega deal leading up right to week one.

03:07But I give Omar Khan credit and the Rooney family.

03:10They stepped at the plate.

03:11A lot of people question this around the league.

03:13Why would you do this for a guy who turns 31?

03:16This is typically not the way the Steelers do things.

03:18I give them credit for doing it, but they got to figure out other ways to win here

03:22because the bottom line is, with him, and he's a great football player,

03:26they won a playoff game.

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