J.J. Watt has made it known he considers a comeback a longshot scenario, but the future Hall of Famer continues to let DeMeco Ryans know he is available if needed. This offer appears to extend to one other team as well.
Watt reaffirmed his pledge to Ryans about rejoining the Texans in an emergency circumstance, via The Athletic’s Dan Pompei, indicating he would “absolutely” return for a 13th season if his former Texans teammate asked (subscription required). Watt’s pledge about coming out of retirement — for an in-season return — would also include the Steelers, Pompei adds in an expansive Ryans profile.
Team No. 2 on Watt’s “in case of emergency” list is unsurprising, seeing as the Steelers employ another Watt on a Hall of Fame path. J.J. Watt considered the Steelers during his free agency in 2021, but he did not want to potentially take money away from his younger brother. Months after J.J. Watt’s two-year, $28MM Cardinals commitment, T.J. Watt landed his extension. The Steelers featured a two-Watt combo for three seasons, with Derek Watt joining T.J., but J.J. closed out his career with the Cards.
The Steelers have Cameron Heyward going into his 14th season with the team, though this longtime partnership now includes a hiccup on the contract front. Heyward’s current contract runs through 2024. The team also has Larry Ogunjobi, DeMarvin Leal and the recently signed Dean Lowry on the payroll. Roster construction would not stand to matter too much here, as J.J. Watt has made it clear it would take a setback changing the Texans’ outlook to come back. That presumably applies to the Steelers as well.
Watt, who turned 35 this offseason, said earlier this month his comeback pledge will expire after the 2024 season. The likely 2028 Canton inductee retired months after a heart scare, but he remained available for the Cardinals and closed the 2022 season strong. Watt finished with 12.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. The latter number matches his most since a stratospheric early-career stretch that remain unapproached; this century’s single-season TFL list still starts with three Watt seasons. Although injuries dogged the all-time great in the seasons following his third Defensive Player of the Year slate, Watt remains the only player in the sack era (1982-present) with two 20-plus-sack seasons. A comeback in a part-time role would certainly be interesting.
The All-Decade-teamer remains with CBS, but this comeback storyline persists. Injuries affecting the Houston or Pittsburgh D-line depth charts will be worth monitoring as the season unfolds.
Is he determined to leave the field for the last time on a cart?
There are probably limited options for those guys whose wrestling career went nowhere…lol.
Two Watts will have QBs going “W(att)TF!”
Cry me a river. He should’ve joined his brother in the first place. At least they won’t get blown-out by the 49ers if he decides to hang up the cleats a second time.
Who’s crying?
Sure sounds like he’s got an itch to come back. If 1 of those teams look good early n most likely playoff bound, it would present a nice scenario for 1 last go-around.
Cool. But if I were him, I’d lay in the weeds and wait until late season to commit to a team. And don’t limit choices between just 2 teams. Whomever is looking like a contender late season, consider them too.
Article is a bit misleading. He basically said they have to beg him to come back and be the missing piece for a late season run. “I’d only come back if…”
If he wanted to be on a roster currently he would be.
He’s begging them to beg him.
He keeps mentioning it when no one is actually asking him to come back.
He likely wants to keep playing but doesn’t want to put his body through 12 months of training and 6 months of playing. He probably wants to cherry pick the 2 months that matter at the end without having to sweat through camp, get beat up for 17 + games, etc.
Eh idk. Can you imagine how often he gets asked that question? I don’t mind him actually answering it from time to time. From there its the media and us fans taking it and running with it.
But yeah, very unlikely. Steelers would need to lose Heyward or Orgunjobi for the season by like Week 10. And even then they’d probably try to backfill internally first by sliding Benton over.
Is he looking to stay relevant? If he wants to play, why did he retire?
He wasn’t going to win any trophies in Arizona, but he’s the one who chose money over playoff teams.
The dude looked out of place on the NFL/CBS set. They basically only called on him out of pity, as he offered nothing.
The steelers will never beg for an older player to return. They did it once for “CRY ME A RIVER BEN CRAPBURGHER ” And that proved to be a disaster. Watt should stay retired
Yeah, Big Ben was a bust wasn’t he? The guy gave it everything he had for a lot of years. Not his fault the Steelers didn’t plan accordingly. That last year I don’t think he could raise his arm above his shoulder without help, but he was still out there because Tomlin didn’t have any backup plans. Don’t blame Ben, blame management.
Ben likely stayed a year or two more than he should have
Your comment that “…the Steelers didn’t plan accordingly” is hilarious.
On the contrary, they drafted Rudolph as his heir apparent, which resulted in diva Ben sulking and refusing to mentor the young QB, taking the drafting as an insult. Yeah, how dare the Steelers plan for life after Ben
They certainly DID have a backup plan, one that the diva torpedoed
Tired…..I couldn’t have said it better, than you just did. People tell me prima donna Ben was the best steeler qb. I say did you ever see number 12 play. They say we’ll look at the stats. I say two different eras. Bradshaw played when you ran the ball. If Bradshaw would of played today, his stats would of made crapsburghers look pathetic. Plus 4-0 in super bowls. AND ONE LEAGUE MVP. CRAPSBURGHER NEVER EVEN WON A STEELER TEAM MVP. CASE CLOSED
what an angry comment section
Sadly, most are nowadays.
I’d sign James Harrison before I’d sign Watt. Harrison doesn’t seem to know he’s old and brittle. The way he hits reminds me of a real life version of the character in Waterboy. lol
I agree about Harrison. The guy’s in incredible shape. But I have to ask after reading your comment….did he hit you?