Ryan Clark says the Steelers gave T.J. Watt ‘WHAT HE EARNED’ | NFL Live

Ryan Clark says the Steelers gave T.J. Watt ‘WHAT HE EARNED’ | NFL Live

Lots of breaking news. Breaking news. Breaking news. The Chiefs have locked up guard Trey Smith. He is the highest paid interior offensive line. It’s a massive day for him. Jets ahead of the game on extending stars. Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner got paid this week. Meanwhile, Terry McLuren voiced concern with his contract negotiation. Everything that has transpired up to this point is has just been disappointing and frustrating. There have been no meaningful talks between the commanders and McLaren this summer. A Dallas County judge has ruled that Rashid Rice must have 5 years of probation and 30 days of jail time. A judge ruled today in California regarding Jordan Addison’s DU life. Some breaking news here on NFL Live coming out of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Steelers and TJ Watt reached agreement on a record three-year $123 million extension. This now makes TJ Watt the highest paid nonquarterback in NFL history. Heck of a week. Happy Friday and welcome to NFL Live. We’ve got a full house and a pack show for you. Sam Macho, Jeremy Fowler, RC in the house, and Courtney Cronin here in the host. Sharon, man, it is a good time to be a pass rusher in the NFL as Pittsburgh’s TJ Watt became the league’s highest paid non-quarterback again. Watt agreed to a three-year $123 million contract extension, his $41 million average per year, setting the floor even higher for pass rushers than the deal signed by Cleveland’s Miles Garrett that pays him 40 million annually. Watt joining Garrett, Houston’s Denil Hunter, and Vegas’s Max Crosby as the league’s top edge edge rushers who got the bag this off season. You see the numbers there. Watt had 108 career sacks, which ranks third most through eight NFL seasons since sacks became official in the early 80s, only trailing Reggie White and Demarcus Wear. And check this out, that number I just mentioned, 108. There is significance to it. 108 career sacks and he received 108 million fully guaranteed. So exactly $1 million per sack. Incredible stuff here. RC, I’m going to start with you. Beyond TJ Watt, I know your Steelers have been super active this off season. What do you make of Watt’s payday and what it signals for Pittsburgh’s approach this season? Yeah. Well, I think the first thing is you did what you were supposed to do by giving TJ Watt what he’s earned and what he has the potential to produce on the field for you. But you look at some of the other moves they made. You go out and you get John New Smith and DK Metaf. You draft Caleb Johnson out of Iowa at the running back position and you wait on Aaron Rogers instead of taking a quarterback at 21 that you don’t really see being the future of the franchise. Omar Khan is trying to win and he’s trying to win now. Darius Slay at corner. Jaylen Ramsay as a utility defensive back. I love what they’ve done, but where will that will that put them in the AFC? Are you better than Kansas City? Are you better than Baltimore? Are you better than Buffalo? Hell, are you even better than the Cincinnati Bengals? All of these things have to come together under Mike Tomlin for what Omar Khan did this off seasonason, which is a departure from who Pittsburgh is to show dividends on the field. Yeah. And it should show dividends at least on the defensive side of the ball with some of those additions. I understand that losing Mika Fitzpatrick hurts, but adding guys like Jaylen Ramsey, Darius Slade, those are going to be big additions for a pass defense that did struggle. My question still remain on the offensive side of the ball. Caleb Johnson’s a big addition, but you waited for Aaron Rogers. Will he be able to take you not only to the playoffs, but to win in the playoffs? And so, yes, you’re making so many moves. You’re locking up your star players, but still, will it be enough? I still have question marks on if it’ll be enough for this Pittsburgh Steelers team to compete for a title in the AFC. All right, Jeremy, we know that TJ Watt turns 30 years old this offseason. There are a lot of people out there who might say a contract of this magnitude for a player of his age might not be worth it. Let’s talk about it, though. What does this mean from a salary cap perspective and how it affects the Steelers moving forward? They’re actually okay, Courtney, if they keep their quarterback cost down, which we know Aaron Rogers is affordable this year. I expect the Steelers to draft a quarterback in the 2026 draft. That would put them on a rookie scale quarterback. They could build a run with these huge numbers like TJ Watt is earning. He’s only got a $23 million cap hit this year. It’s not too bad. Next year, that goes up to 42 million the next few years. That’s like quarterback money. But when I check with people in Pittsburgh, they all say the same thing. We are trying to build a Super Bowl winning roster. Whether they have the quarterback or not to do that is the question. But around the quarterback, they have a lot of pieces now, including one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. But that’s the thing though, right? You’re building this Super Bowlinning roster. Will you have a quarterback that can go win a Super Bowl? Aaron Rogers this year. We know what his age is. We know that he doesn’t plan on playing an extended period of time. So, are you willing to make the moves? If you’re a good football team this year, you win 10 11 games, become a foot, become a playoff football team, are you willing to move up and go get that dude so that this playoff rosters pays dividends right now? Because with some of these older pieces that you’re adding, it doesn’t seem like you’re working to win 10 years from now. It’s like you’re working to win now, much like we saw the Los Angeles Rams do in 2021. Ao, I know that cost is obviously pretty high, but TJ Watt is one of the best pass rushers in the league. You think it’s worth it? Oh, 100% worth it. People talk a lot about his age, but they shouldn’t be talking about his age. They should be talking about TJ Watt’s production. Since 2017, no one has more sacks than him, more force fumbles, more quarterback hits, more tackles for loss. And so age, you could talk about age all you want, but his production, it emanates past him. He helps guys to the left of him. He helps guys who are on the inside. He helped guys like Alex Heismith passing on the opposite side, pass rushing on the opposite side. So for me, I look at the production that he has earned and he’s worth every penny. And Jeremy said it earlier, the salary cap is going to increase as these seasons continue. And so that cap hit that he has right now, it’s not going to be as much as a salary cap increases. Man, you had to do this, right? TJ Watt earned this contract. You’re taking care of all of these people that aren’t lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers. You’re going to get this sort of production from TJ Watt this year, next year, and the year after. As long as he’s healthy and he’s on the field, you know what he produces. You also know the way that equates to wins for this team. This defense is going to be a big piece of why they win early this season as Aaron Rogers gets acclimated and having your star the lynch pin of your entire organization not only happy but taken care of was a must. I love the deal by Omar Khan and now TJ Watt has to make him right. As we know pass rushers often have second primes. It’s one of those positions that when you get 30 sometimes you get better. TJ Watt on the note of his health only missed 11 games since 2017. Steelers record in those games 1 and 10. So glad that they locked him up. So Miles Garrett and TJ Watt are one and two in sacks over the last four seasons. They are now the two highest paid edge rushers in the NFL. Nick Bosa got his money in 2023. But look at those other two names. Trey Hendrickson on that list. the 11th highest paid edge rusher by 2025 average. And Micah Parsons try 67th. Two guys waiting on new contracts. Micah Parsons had this to say Wednesday regarding the recent contracts that just came through. Quote, “The numbers got nothing to do with mine and my numbers ain’t got nothing to do with them. Like, I’m younger than Hendrickson. I mean, Hutchinson’s coming off an injury. Everyone’s circumstances is completely different. Hutch is coming off his third year. Usually guys wait four years so it just all depends. What? I mean he’s up there with Miles, so you know it’s different. Everyone’s circumstances is different. All right, Jeremy, we turn our attention now to what this means for other guys in the league who are waiting to get paid. What does TJ Watts deal do for someone like Micah Parsons? Well, Micah Parsons is in his own category. He’s right. That deal has nothing to do with him because he’s 26 years old and he’s already on a Reggie White type Hall of Fame path. So, he can pretty much get whatever he wants at this point within reason. Now, the Cowboys are dedicated to paying him, but they do appear to be slow playing this like they do with a lot of their deals. You saw CD Lamb didn’t get his extension till late August last year. Parsons knows the game, knows he might have to wait a little bit longer, but from what I’ve heard, his frustration is more like, “Hey, we have a chance to do something special. I want to get this in the rearview, move on with my team.” They’re not in that space just yet. But the Cowboys should try to get this done. Tyler Smith, one of the top guards in the league, they’re going to try to pay him, too. [Music] Listen, uh the Cowboys got to stop this, y’all. They they got to stop with this contractual malpractice that they continue to do. It’s not like the longer they wait, they don’t sign people. Zika Elliot years ago went to Cabo. He got his money. Dak Prescott got his money on the day of the first game. CD Lamb became a receiver, paid right under Justin Jefferson. It’s not like they hold out, players get scared, and they get to sign him for less money. the money just keeps going up and higher for Michael Parsons. So, let’s get this deal done. Now, you look at where Michael Parsons is and he’s saying that their numbers or their numbers and this and this doesn’t have to do anything with me. Yes, it does. Because David Mulligetta, Michael Parson’s agent, is going to point to TJ Watt and he’s going to point to his age and he’s going to point to Miles Garrett and he’s going to point to his age and say, “Our guy is younger and he’s just as productive.” If you’re Jerry Jones, you want to get this done as quickly as possible. So, not only your best defensive player, but one of your best leaders is signed, happy, and ready to go as you embark on this new season with new head coach Brian Callahan. Jeremy, to RC’s point, if if Micah Parson’s agent is looking at the numbers and saying, “My cl my client has a longer trajectory. He’s he’s 26 years old.” The number that TJ Watts signed for, $41 million a year on an average. Like, what does that do to Micah Parson’s number? Is that potentially 43 million, 44 million? I mean, all the above. That’s what it’s going to be. There’s no chance that he will take a number below TJ Watt at this point. The stage is set for him. So, waiting really benefited them and the Cowboys seem willing to wait maybe because they know we’re going to talk about him for the next eight months and they’re going to stay in the story lines. But the price, as RC said, does go up and it’s problematic because he, you know, he could put up 45 for all we know and it would not shock at this point. Sometimes it takes until the 11th, 12th, 13th hour for the Cowboys to do business, but certainly feels like that deal will eventually get done. One that we’re not so sure about. Acho is Trey Hendrickson. So, he’s a name that we’ve heard this off seasonason. Feels pretty contentious between the Bengals and their star pass rusher who had 17 and a half sacks last season. How do these negotiations affect him? They absolutely help him and they hurt the Cincinnati Bengals. Trey Hendrickson is actually more productive than any other pass rusher over the last two seasons. 17 and a half sacks last year. He had 17 and a half sacks the year before. No one in the NFL has more sacks than Trey Hendrickson over the last two seasons. But now, I would question this. I would say this, okay? The Cincinnati Bengals had an opportunity to pay Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and or Trey Hendrickson. They made their decision. They paid Jamar Chase and they paid T uh T. Higgins. And all of a sudden, Trey Henderson is saying, “Okay, y’all decided on them. My number’s not going lower. It’s actually going to go higher.” And so, I don’t see this playing out well for the Bengals, but I see it playing out well for Trey Henderson. Why? because somebody some other team is going to be willing to pay him 42, 43, whatever he desires because of the production that he’s putting forth. Yeah, this one’s complicated and sticky because the teams have been talking for a while. They resumed talks earlier in the summer. That’s a good sign, but it has not gone anywhere. And he’s a player that wants long-term commitment here. He’s 30 years old. He’s got one last crack at this. He doesn’t want like a one-year deal at a high number like a Denil Hunter did in Houston. He believes he’s at least close to that group of TJ Watt and those guys. He doesn’t expect a number that high is my sense. He just wants something reasonable. Kzar with his skill set is one of the best sack masters in the NFL. The Bengals operate a little bit differently than Pittsburgh where with Watt they saw a legacy player that we have to get done. The Bengals could draw this out a little bit longer. They’re hoping that training camp creates some urgency in the next week. But see though, that’s the thing, right? Is Trey Hendrickson seems like seen like Miles Gary? Is he seen like uh TJ Watt? Is he seen like Michael Parsons? He’s not. And I don’t believe not only in his building, but in other people’s building. And yes, he’s highly productive. I think he’s an extremely talented player, a player that’s shown that success on the field. But if he was on the trading block, you know that other teams would have jumped at the chance to get Miles Garrett, which is why why Miles Garrett money went to where it is. The same thing with TJ Watt. It would be the same thing with Micah Parsons. And so the conversation Trey Hendrickson has to have is the one Jeremy Fowler is talking about. Don’t make me the highest paid, but put me in the top three. Put me in the top four because my play say I deserve that. Will the Cincinnati Bengals step up to the plate or what is some other team willing to give up for Trey Hendrickson while guaranteeing him that sort of money? Yeah, we heard from executive vice president Katie Blackburn of the Cincinnati Bengals back at owners meetings drawing a line in the sand uh between the organization and their star pass rusher. quote, “I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at.” Doesn’t sound like sides are uh close at all on that one. All right. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Ryan Clark joins Courtney Cronin, Sam Acho and Jeremy Fowler on NFL Live to discuss Pittsburgh making T.J. Watt the highest average per year salary for high non-QB in NFL history. They also speak about pass rushers Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson, who are in the final season of their current contracts.

0:00 Intro
1:25 T.J. Watt’s extension
6:56 Micah Parsons
10:40 Trey Hendrickson

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