T.J. Watt still doesn’t have a new contract, but Steelers coach Mike Tomlin expects that his star linebacker will get his desired deal and will be at practice tomorrow.
“I remain optimistic that something is going to get done from a deal perspective,” Tomlin said today (via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor). “That aside, you know, I’m expecting him to work tomorrow. I’m proceeding with the assumption that he’s going to work tomorrow. You know, that’s kind of the approach that I’m taking.”
However, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport isn’t as confident (Twitter link). Watt’s status for tomorrow’s practice is “up in the air,” something that’s especially relevant considering the Steelers’ “practice-to-play” philosophy. Rapoport notes that the Steelers and Watt’s camp had “intense contract negotiations” throughout the summer, and the Steelers are holding fast to their organizational philosophy of not engaging in contract talks after Week 1. Rapoport warns that this deal could take a “very, very long time” and “could get difficult,” meaning Watt could play out the season on the final year of his contract.
So, there’s two matters at hand: Watt’s status for Week 1 and Watt’s extension. Assuming the Steelers stick to their guns, Watt won’t see the field this weekend unless he practices. If Watt sticks to his guns, he won’t practice until he gets a new deal. The main holding point at the moment is guaranteed money, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Twitter. Rapoport provides additional context, citing that the Steelers’ refusal to give anyone full guarantees after the first year of an extension. Watt is presumably pushing for more guaranteed cash.
Watt is currently set to hit free agency following the upcoming campaign. There’s a good chance the former first-rounder becomes the highest-paid defensive player in league history, which would mean an AAV of over $27MM with roughly $80MM in full guarantees. Watt’s performance to date justifies that type of expenditure. Stout against the run and pass, the 26-year-old (27 in October) graded out as Pro Football Focus’ third-best edge player last season out of 108 qualifiers. He is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time First Team All-Pro, and he has averaged about 14 sacks a year since his sophomore campaign.
At this point all I see happening is him playing out this year and being tagged next year. If the team is willing to gamble and not have its best player on the field against the bills it tells me they must be far apart on money
I just don’t see how, in Watt’s case, holding out helps. It doesn’t change the determination of the Steelers to sign him. They don’t negotiate during the season, and I don’t think anyone believes that they’ll let him walk. I know he’s worried (and rightfully so) about getting guaranteed money throughout the entirety of the contract rather than the first year. I don’t think those demands are problematic. I just don’t see how a hold out puts pressure on Pittsburgh, who still has a franchise tag and a long-standing policy of halting negotiations at the start of the season. Colbert isn’t a rookie GM on a desperate team.
If Watt holds out, it’ll hurt the defense significantly, but it’s just not Pittsburgh’s style to cave to individual players. It’s also not their style to let homegrown talent wander elsewhere. They’ll get the deal done most likely, even if it’s after the season, but the hold-out won’t be the reason why. I just don’t think Pittsburgh is the type of team that a hold-out sill work on, and I don’t think they’re entertaining the possibility of letting Watt go. Watt will just be missing practice, which will be the only difference in my opinion.
How can paragraph one start with “I don’t see how, in Watt’s case, holding out helps.” Then paragraph two start with “If Watt holds out, it’ll hurt the defense significantly….”
That is the whole point, that’s how it helps Watt. Players that are that good hold out because will be worse without them thus giving the player more leverage in negotiations. If Watt said I’m happy playing for $10m this season there wouldn’t be any further conversation. However the exact opposite is true and he is leveraging himself for a better deal, thus helping himself.
Because, if you read the rest of what I wrote, I said that the Steelers are not the type of team to panic and change their own rules because of that. They never have, no matter how valuable the player is. When Bell sat out just a couple of years ago, the offense was affected (though still good), and the Steelers didn’t budge.
They just don’t do stuff like that, even if it hurts their on field product. The only thing Watt does is miss practice and opportunities to demonstrate his production. This is not Seattle or Green Bay or another team that will do whatever it takes to satisfy an unhappy holdout. At the same time, it’s not a team that gives up on homegrown cornerstones. Pittsburgh will go at its own pace, and Watt holding out will not change a years old approach.
Holding out is fully within his rights. What if he plays and god forbid has a devastating injury, he then costs himself millions in what would be his most lucrative contract.
“The only thing watt does is miss practice and opportunities to demonstrate his production”.
He has already demonstrated his production. There isn’t a GM in this league that doesn’t already know what he can do. This doesn’t hurt Watt at all.
Further demonstrating is always good. GMs know what he did, sure, and no one has any reasonable expectation that Watt will be bad this year. But the only thing practice does is make you better, no matter how good you already are, and even though coaches today will always say that they don’t care about veterans missing practice, they want their leaders there setting an example and helping teach their teammates by showing them.
As good as his production will likely be, it will be better with practice, and likely will maintain goodwill with his coaches, possibly his teammates, and the organization. Because there’s not much doubt as to the Steelers wanting to keep Watt and making him a competitive offer, there’s not much reason to skip out in protest. Yes, it’s in his rights, and yes, he may get injured, but that injury risk is always going to be present as is anyway.
Also, NFL players don’t just demonstrate production once and call it a day if they want a long career. They need to demonstrate repeatedly if they want to be able to demand terms. Practice and showing commitment can only help do that. Don’t get so distracted by business strategies that you forget your own playing priorities-that’s what your agent is for. And again, this is not a Eiffel-waffle team. The Steelers have shown consistency in contract negotiations and a pattern of behavior. They’re hardly unpredictable and rarely change tactics in response to player strategies. I don’t think it really accomplishes much to negotiate with them the same way you would with, say, Cincinnati. Watt returning to practice today kind of speaks to that.
Jules Winnfield: “Say Watt again…say Watt again. I dare you…I double dare you. Say Watt one more GD time!”.
Watt
Allen Iverson confirms that practice is irrelevant. Once Watt misses a game, that’s when this article becomes vital. I’m a Steelers fan and I hope they stick to their guns on this one. Great player, but the team is always more important than an individual.
Being the best justifies the biggest contract if the game is which player makes the most money.
If the game is about winning and you aren’t playing basketball the biggest individual contract is more like a dunce cap.
Defensive players just aren’t worth the big money (look at the w/l records of the teams with the highest paid defensive players), thus the Steelers should trade him – as they are going to need some serious draft capital to replace Roethlisberger in 2022.
It’ll never happen but if the NFL got rid of the franchise/transition tags, I’d bet that you would see a lot less holdouts. Assuming you’re a player who is worth the franchise tag, you’re basically at a relatively team-friendly and cost controlled price for 4-7 years (and not counting the third franchise tag as that price is usually too high for teams). That’s not a whole lot of incentive for teams to negotiate a new contract with their non-QB star player and most teams would be happy to slap the franchise tag on them for two years and let them walk after that.
For the players, while the franchise tag gives you a large guarantee for that season (assuming they sign it before its rescinded), it also doesn’t provide any long term security. If you’re a first round pick, you might end up playing on 3 one year deals (5th year option plus two franchise tags). And if you suffer a serious injury, you can likely kiss those future franchise tags goodbye and likely be forced into taking a one year “prove-it” deal. In that case, its hard to blame the players looking for some security.