Steelers News: NOBODY Is Talking About This TJ Watt Scenario + Scary Terry’s Situation Just Got UGLY

Steelers News: NOBODY Is Talking About This TJ Watt Scenario + Scary Terry’s Situation Just Got UGLY

[Music] Welcome in to Steelers Talk. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. There is a TJ Watts scenario that is very possible that nobody is talking about right now that we’ll talk about at the top of today’s show than Terry McLaren situation with the Washington Commanders just got uglier today. Then we’ll talk about ESPN’s Peter Shreger who says to watch out for this Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver this year. And then also ESPN’s Mike Tanom disrespects Big Ben Rothllessberger. Make sure you guys stick around to the end of today’s show to see what Tanbomb, that clown, had to say about number seven. But before we get into the content today, guys, we did put out a video yesterday where I broke down the Jawan Jennings situation. He asked for either an extension or a trade from the San Francisco 49ers before the season. I break down his skill set, why I think he’s a really good fit with the Steelers, and what it would cost to potentially land him here with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already to never miss any of our videos, and also make sure to put that video uh that link to that in the comments and description of today’s show, as well as the chip in the top right. All right, so now let’s get into our first topic of the day here, which is another possibility that could happen for TJ Watt in this whole saga that is unfolding right now that not a lot of people are kind of talking about. A lot of people talk about the possibility of an extension getting done and a lot of people talk about the possibility of him being traded, but there’s not a whole lot of people putting up the idea here that Watt is under the is still under contract for one more season and there’s still a possibility that he ends up playing on that final year of his current deal and he becomes a free agent next year. Um, and the thinking behind this guys is that this is a very pivotal year for the Pittsburgh Steelers where, you know, they don’t know what the future of this franchise is going to hold. Whether they’re going to continue to try and win Super Bowls in the years to come and try to be continue to be in win now mode or whether they’re going to rebuild, fire Mike Tomlin, uh, you know, draft a new franchise quarterback, all that different thing, all those different things. And if everything crashes and burns to the ground here this season, both sides might prefer uh, to not be tied down. TJ might not want to be uh tied up long term in a franchise that’s just starting over and the Steelers might not want to have uh you know a 30 plus year old edge rusher on the roster if they are rebuilding. So you take a look at the 2025 financials for TJ Watt on the final year of his contract. He is set to make just over 21 million in cash this year. Uh but with some of the rolling over bonus stuff from the signing bonus on a restructure the cap hit for the Steelers is $30.4 $4 million this season if they don’t uh do anything with his contract, no extension, no restructure or anything like that. Uh and the risk for Pittsburgh in this particular scenario is if TJ Watt really balls out this year and you know the the edge rusher market continues to go up, they may be stuck having to pay more for Watt in future seasons uh if they want to bring him back. And then the risk for Watt in doing this potential uh road here is that if he has a down year and he regresses this year, if he gets injured, he risks, you know, making less money on his next contract, less than potentially what’s on this table right now that the Pittsburgh Steelers are offering to him uh in an extension here this season. But I think both sides would probably prefer to get an extension done. And I do think that this is far and away the most most likely scenario at this point. And I think TJ wants to get an extension done this off seasonason because he doesn’t want to run that risk. And I think the Steelers want to make TJ Watt a Steeler for life. So that is still far and away the most likely scenario here. Uh and you know Pittsburgh does benefit from an extension here because they can lower his cap hit in 2025. Right. Right now it’s over $30 million just for TJ Watt right now. uh if you if you make that extension happen, you can lower that cap hit for Watt and open up other cap opportunities at the trade deadline and even free agency before the start of of the season. And then for TJ Watt’s purposes, he gets uh more cash this season. He’s only slated to get just over $21 million in cash uh this year. If he gets an extension done, uh he can get more cash in his pocket this season if he gets that deal done. However, I think that, you know, this is much more likely than a trade. I think it’s much more likely that TJ Watt plays out the final year of his contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers than he does say like, “Oh, I’m not playing for you this year if you don’t give me an extension.” I think that uh TJ wants to play this year for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And he understands the opportunity that is in front of this team with Cam Hayward and Aaron Rogers and all the new players that they brought in like Jaylen Ramsay. And I think the bottom line is the Pittsburgh Steelers need Watt to be on the team this year if they’re going to accomplish their short-term goals of winning a Super Bowl before some of their older players like Cam Hayward and Aaron Rogers retire. That’s the current focus of the organization is winning now. And you can’t do that in my opinion uh without TJ Watt. We have covered uh the reasons why that is on this show extensively. So I won’t go over those reasons again. But in the end, I do think that an extension will get done between these two sides. I think it’ll be close towards the start of training camp, if not just after. I really hope this doesn’t extend all the way to like the start of the season or something like that like it did in 2021. Um, you know, I want TJ Watt out there to build chemistry with some of these new players that are on the defense and I want him to be ready to go for what’s really going to be a pivotal uh season for the for the black and gold this year. So, let’s say you guys let me know down there in the comments section. What is the percent chance that TJ Watt gets a new deal before the start of the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers? Put it on a scale of 0 to 100 for me down there in the comments section. This will be the pin question on today’s show in just a second here. I’m going to tell you about our sponsor today at Mando Whole Body Deodorant. And while I’m talking about Mando today, put the chances of what getting getting an extension before the season on a scale of zero to 100. Now, let’s talk about our sponsor today at Mando. And guys, have you ever stepped outside and felt like you’re instantly drenched in sweat? It gets hot out there in the trobe at Steelers training camp. And this year, I’m trusting Mando whole body deodorant to keep me fresh no matter how hot it gets this summer. If you’ve been struggling with the heat and humidity like I have, I have great news for you. Mando has just launched something that takes sweat control to the next level. Introducing the Mando deodorant plus sweat control solid stick. It’s double protection. Finally, you get the odor control you love with Mando, plus powerful sweat control. Don’t wait. Grab yours now at shopmando.com and experience the double protection of Mando deodorant plus sweat control. And just to show you guys that I actually use this product. 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Please support our show and tell them that we sent you. Mando Mando’s got you covered with deodorant plus sweat control. So say goodbye to sweat stains and hello to longlasting freshness with our friends at Mando today. So now let’s shift over here to Terry McLuren. A very popular name in Steelers trade rumors nowadays on Steelers Twitter. And uh the commander wide receiver voiced his frustration with the media today in a press conference detailing uh his frustration with the extension talks he’s been having or lack thereof with the Washington commanders. This is what Scary Terry had to say earlier today. I’ve been pretty frustrated and I’m not going to lie. Everything that has transpired up until this point has been disappointing and frustrating. I’ve wanted to continue my career in Washington. I’ve created my life here. My wife and I bought our first home here. This has been somewhere I’ve always wanted to be. It feels like you have to beg for someone to see your worth and your value. You feel like you put that out every year, year in and year out. Everything from previous regimes to even now, I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me. I’m not perfect at all. I’ve definitely made mistakes, but I’ve always led with the right foot and I’ve tried to put myself in a position to be a person that can be valued and respected amongst coaches and his teammates, but also a dog on the field. I don’t want that to get mistaken and I feel like I’m one of the best receivers in this league and it’s not because of me just feeling that, but I’ve proven it and I’m going to continue to work hard. So, it doesn’t really sound like uh Terry McLuren sounds like he’s leaving necessarily. It sounds like he really wants to return to Washington. The commanders just aren’t um you know coming to the negotiating table uh at this point in time. He was also asked uh specifically about going to another football team. he does want to stay with the Washington Commanders and you know I he was even asked straight up do you want to go somewhere else and he’s like I don’t I haven’t even thought about playing for another team. This is where I want to be. So that’s kind of reason number one is why I don’t think this is going to happen guys. I don’t think the Commanders plan on trading him and I don’t think Terry wants to be traded to another football team. Uh, but I also think that the Terry McLuren situation is pretty similar to TJ Watts where, you know, if you feel like T uh Terry McLuren’s available via trade, you have to also say that TJ Watts available for trade for other teams because Terry uh and TJ are both playing for teams trying to win now. Both of them are trying to get money. Um, and both both teams are kind of not coming to the table on their respective deals. So, this is kind of like an identical situation here between TJ Watt and Terry McLuren. Um, and kind of like the TJ Watts situation, I don’t expect Terry to get dealt by the Washington Commanders uh in in the weeks to come before the season. Also, if McLuren is traded, if the Commanders do come to that conclusion and decide, “Yeah, we’re going to trade him away.” I don’t think it’s going to be to Pittsburgh. I don’t think Pittsburgh can give them the best possible package, they’re going to be looking for a legit number one type of receiver in return for McLaren. And unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they can’t really offer uh any wide receivers that the Washington Commanders would be interested in a trade. Of course, they traded for DK Metaf this off seasonason. You can’t really trade him away. Uh they obviously believe in him, but you look at some of the other wide receivers in this group like Calvin Austin III, I think, is a good piece. He’s not a number one wide receiver. Roman Wilson is not uh particularly ready to be a number one wide receiver either. I don’t really see any other options yet the wide receiver room that they can swap for Terry McLuren that the Commanders would be interested in. Uh plus, even if they were able to find a trade package to land Terry, do the Pittsburgh Steelers really want to be paying two different wide receivers, $33 million per season uh for the next several years, especially one like Terry McLuren that just got past the age of 30. I honestly don’t think the Steelers are all that interested in Terry McLuren, guys. And as we’ve been discussing on this show, I think they believe in Calvin Austin III and that’s their plan moving forward. So, make sure you guys click that thumbs up icon if you haven’t already if you are enjoying today’s show. It is the freest and easiest way to help out our channel and it helps put this video in front of more Steelers fans like yourselves. So, we greatly appreciate your guys’ support there. And now we can move on to our next topic on today’s show, which is that ESPN’s Peter Shrager says to quote unquote watch out for Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III to have a breakout season here in 2025. This is what Shrags had to say about the tiny uh Steelers wide receiver. We know about DK Metaf. We know about Roman Wilson. Look out for Calvin Austin III. Apparently, he has uh had a really good spring and they’re very excited about him in the Arthur Smith offense. Aaron Rogers is of course as accurate a quarterback as there is. Austin has wheels. You can hit him deep. Uh he can hit him underneath. Calvin Austin, a guy whose name uh we’ve heard, but we didn’t really consider one of those elite tier guys. Uh let’s see him have a big year with DK Metaf on the other side. So, in my opinion, guys, if you if you’ve been watching this channel for a while, you guys know how I feel about Calvin Austin the third. I think he’s incredibly slept on as a receiving threat and one of the more underrated receivers in the National Football League. And people think because he’s small, you know, that he can’t get open, that he’s not an effective wide receiver. He can’t be a number two receiver because of how small he is. But he is one of the more efficient uh wide receivers when he gets targeted in the National Football League. just last year when it came to passer rating when targeted. He led the entire uh division in the AFC North last year in passer rating when targeted uh with 132.4. So when the Steelers did throw him the ball, he was absolutely super super efficient and that also shows in his yards per catch number uh which was top 10 in the National Football League as well. 15.2 yards per catch in 2024 for Calvin Austin III. Uh, by the way, that number is higher than DK Metafs was last year. So, from an efficiency standpoint, uh, Calvin Austin the third is one of the more most efficient receivers in the game. And I kind of compare Calvin Austin’s skill set to Darnell Mooney because Mooney really had a breakout season last year in Atlanta as kind of a smaller type of wide receiver that thrives on the outside. Uh, like Mooney, Austin can threaten you uh after the catch on underneath routes, can get open with his route running in the intermediate level. He’s got better hands than people give him credit for. And then of course he’s got the long speed to beat you over the top and be a vertical threat. You compare Darnell Mooney’s final numbers in his final season there in Chicago where he had a quarterback and Justin Fields that wasn’t really looking at him because DJ Moore was the primary read most of the time. Mooney was the secondary read and as we’ve discussed about Justin Fields on this channel ad nauseium, he doesn’t get to his second read very often and as a result you didn’t really see Darnell Mooney get that much production. just 414 yards in 2023 and only one touchdown. But then he goes to Atlanta. It’s not like Atlanta has a great quarterback situation. It’s Kurt Cousins and Michael Pennix in his rookie season. But, you know, they look at him a lot more and he gets almost 1,000 yards, five touchdowns, and you know, they’re believing him in him right now in Atlanta as their legit number two wide receiver next to Drake London. Um, and you compare Darnell Mooney’s numbers in 2023 with Justin Fields, a primary read dependent quarterback, to Calvin Austin, who also had a pair of primary read dependent quarterbacks and Russell Wilson and of course Justin Fields as well. Um, and the numbers are very, very comparable. Even Austin’s numbers are a little bit better, right? He had a couple more receptions, uh, you know, over a hundred more yards. He had more touchdowns. He had the higher PFF grade. Uh, so Austin, in my opinion, has a chance to really have a breakout season this year as the Z wide receiver in Arthur Smith’s offense. And, you know, unlike Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, who would try to scramble or try to run if their first read wasn’t there, Aaron Rogers, you know, knows that he has to live from the pocket. All right, he’s not the same mobile type of guy uh that’s going to go outside the pocket and make plays like he was early on in his career. Um, you know, he’s one of the best mental processors in the National Football League. And if Calvin Austin is his secondary read and he’s breaking open and that primary read is shut down, uh, unlike Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, I have every confidence in the world Aaron Rogers is going to find Calvin Austin the third. And I think Calvin’s going to have a hell of a season this year as this team’s number two receiver. So before we get into our final topic today, guys, if you’re enjoying today’s show, consider clicking that subscribe button. We got daily Steelers videos on this channel for free every day, similar style to the one that we’re doing today. We got breaking news coverage if the Steelers make a big move. Uh weekly live shows including uh weekly watch parties for every single Steelers game during the season. It’s all 100% free, guys. So, help us get to 90,000 subscribers. We just passed over 87,000 subscribers last week. Our next milestone is get to 90,000 subscribers. So, if you want to uh join the largest individually run Steelers program anywhere on YouTube, click that subscribe button right now. All right. All right, so our final topic of the day, ESPN’s Mike Tannon Bomb, the the local idiot there at ESPN, is back on his clown man. Because he said that there are three current quarterbacks, three um that he would rather have than uh Big Ben Rothllessberger. And the the way that this kind of discussion came up was that he was comparing the 2004 quarterback class to the 2020 quarterback class as to which one was the greatest of all time. and he said he would rather have Justin Herbert, Jaylen Herz, and Jordan freaking Love above Big Ben Rothllessberger. Okay, a Steelers legend. This is what Tandem Bomb had to say uh earlier today. If Ben Rothllessberger was in a group with Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jaylen Herz, and Jordan Love, I’m not sure I’m taking Ben over any of those guys. So, let first let’s just take a look at Big Ben Rothllessberger’s uh resume here because it’s very, very impressive, right? two Super Bowl championships, three AFC Championships, and of course, three Super Bowl appearances because of those championships, 165 career wins, is fifth all time. His 67% career win percentage is top 15 all time as well. He has over 64,000 career passing yards, that’s fifth all time as well. And then his 418 career touchdowns is also top 10. So, you’re you’re comparing Big Ben, somebody that’s top 10 in all these categories, multiple times Super Bowl champion, proven uh you know, clutch performer versus Justin freaking Herbert who has zero playoff wins in five years. Zero. All right. Like Ben has two Super Bowl championships before Justin Herbert even has a playoff win and Tan Bomb says that he would rather have him. No way in hell. Then then you get Jaylen Herz who won the Super Bowl last year. Great for him, but he needs a super team around him to win a Super Bowl, man. He needed Saquon Barkley to come in and finish fourth quarters for him last year. He needed the best defense in the league last year to be able to completely shut down Patrick Mahomes in that Chief’s offense last year. Now, he played great in that Super Bowl against a good Spags defense. He deserves credit for that, but there’s no way in hell he’s better than Big Ben Rothllessberger. And then Jordan Love, who has eight good games in his four-year NFL career. Give me a break, Mike Tannen, Bomb, man. He’s not even a top 10 quarterback right now in the National Football League in my opinion. And you can make an argument that Big Ben Rothllessberger is a top 10 quarterback in the history of the National Football League with the numbers that he put up in his NFL career. So I think plain and simply M. Mike Tannon doesn’t know what the what the hell he’s talking about here. Um, and this is just straight up blasphemy here, saying Jordan Love is better than Big Ben Rothllessberger. I mean, give me a break here, Mike. Uh, so what’s your take? Let me know down there in the comments section. Is Big Ben Rothllessberger a top 10 quarterback all time? Give me a yes or a no down there in the comments section. I think you can make an argument that he is. Uh but let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. That’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers News and Rumors. We got more Steelers coverage coming your way tomorrow, guys. So, click that subscribe button if you never want to miss a video as we get ready for the 2025 NFL season. [Music]

Pittsburgh Steelers fans won’t want to miss this loaded episode of Steelers Talk with Jack Sperry as we break down the under-the-radar TJ Watt contract scenario that nobody is talking about. Could the Steelers really let Watt play out the final year of his deal without an extension? Plus, Commanders WR Terry McLaurin’s relationship with Washington just took a scary turn, and Sperry explains why the Steelers likely won’t be a trade destination. We also highlight Peter Schrager’s bold take on Calvin Austin III and why he could explode in Arthur Smith’s offense in 2025. And finally, ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum disrespects Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger — Jack sets the record straight on Big Ben’s Hall of Fame résumé. Subscribe now to Steelers Talk for nonstop Steelers news, rumors, and updates!

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Terry McLaurin On His Frustrations:
“It feels like you have to beg for someone to see your worth and your value. You feel like you put that out there year in and year out. Everything from previous regimes to even now, I’ve done everything that’s been ask of me.”

Big Ben Roethlisberger’s Hall Of Fame Resume:
– 2 Super Bowl Championships
– 3 AFC Championships
– 165 Career Wins (5th All-Time)
– 67% Career Win% (14th All-Time)
– 64,088 Career Passing Yards (5th All-Time)
– 418 Career TDs (8th All-Time)

We want to hear from you, Steelers Nation! Answer today’s Steelers questions down in the comments section:
– Percent chance Watt gets a new deal before the start of the season? Scale of 0-100
– Is Big Ben a top 10 QB of All-Time? Yes or No?

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Mike Tannenbaum (ESPN) On The 2020 QB Class:
“If Ben Roethlisberger was in a group with Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, and Jordan Love, I’m not sure I’m taking Ben over any of those guys.”

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Here’s some more Steelers YouTube segments for you to check out if you’re looking for more insight on the Black & Gold:
– Steelers News: T.J. Watt Update, Ja’Marr Chase Praises Steelers CB Room + The Browns Are IN TROUBLE https://youtu.be/g1Ve4Diuh-I
– HUGE Steelers Trade News: The PERFECT WR2 For Pittsburgh Just Hit The Trade Market | Steelers Talk https://youtu.be/vkyjTGQxi4A
– Steelers News: Arthur Smith Is Rebuilding The 2020 Titans Offense (Only Better?) In Pittsburgh https://youtu.be/g627y_TCbCk

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