T.J. Watt Deal REACTION: Pittsburgh Steelers spending TOO MUCH on defense? | THE HERD NFL

T.J. Watt Deal REACTION: Pittsburgh Steelers spending TOO MUCH on defense? | THE HERD NFL

Okay, so TJ Watt after our show yesterday, uh, who’s a great player. He’s an absolutely great player. There’s no disputing that. Deserves the money. Happy for him. Three-year deal, $123 million extension. So, uh, this goes back to great player, deserves the money. I don’t question the player, I question the direction of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s like I don’t question the power and the brilliance and the influence of Meta. I question the direction of metaverse. Are we all so miserable with our lives? We’re gonna be wearing headsets around all day. It’s not it’s not the technology, it’s the application of the technology with Meta. And that’s how I feel about Pittsburgh. It’s not the talented JJ Watt. It’s how they prioritize defense. And frankly, their defense isn’t that good. It’s four straight years it’s been out of the top 10 in total defense. If you go to let’s talk playoffs because that’s all that matters in this sport. January the if you go look at the last five playoff games for the Pittsburgh Steelers they’ve given up 28 31 42 48 and 45 they give up 40 points a game so like they’re spending all this money on the wrong side of the ball and they’re not dominant. Well, they’ve gotten better on defense and they’ve gotten worse on offense because the league’s changed. They are completely dysfunctional on offense. Last year, this is hard to do with the talent they had. It was hard to do. They were 29th in the red zone. How they good play. Naji Harris, Pickkins, Russell Wilson, one of the best young centers in the league. They were 29th in the red zone. They were 27th best offensive line. It’s almost impossible. So when I look at Pittsburgh, my take is don’t hate the player, hate the direction, hate what they prioritized. Why can’t they watch the Rams and the ners and the Lions and the Chiefs and the Eagles and the Bills? Keep your defense cheap and young. Pay one great defensive player. I’d be all for paying JJ Watt this. If the rest of your cap was on offense and you had an elite quarterback, an elite left tackle and an elite running back, the Steelers need a more balanced football diet. The league went into protein and they’re all carbs and and what is their answer? I keep hearing, well, they’re all in. And their answer to their offensive woes, 40-year-old Aaron Rogers, who was like sort of committed in the offseason, he’s their Ompic. He’s going to solve everything. He’s going to solve their unbalanced diet. So again, it’s not TJ Watt. Look around at the winningest teams here. Detroit’s on fire. Buffalo, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Rams. They’re keep they’re giving up defensive players. And and and and again, I I’ve talked to multiple GMs on this. Pay for a TJ Watt. Pay for a Chris Jones. Pay eventually for a Jared Verse. pay for the Max Crosby, but then you got to just stay young and stay cheap at safety and corner and linebacker. So, you can pay a left tackle top of the market. Quarterback top of the market, center top of the market, two weapons, top of the market, but it’s not the player. Eric Manini talked about it this week. It’s not that the player is not worth the money. I’m not sure if I would take the TJ calls or or not, especially if I’m Pittsburgh. and on Pittsburgh this season. It’s not like they’re loaded up offensively and that’s going to be able to carry the day. When you look at TJ Watt, he had he’s had a little over 30 sacks between the last two seasons. Every single game you have to account for him every single game. He’s the guy that offensively you go into the room and say, “Look, this this player can ruin the game for us.” It’s not the player, it’s the prioritization of the defensive side of the ball as the league has moved to offense. All the rules. It’s not anti-TJ Watt. He is worth the money. I think he leads the NFL in sacks last 5 years. So, and how does this play to the next story? The Dallas Cowboys. Next up is Micah Parsons. So, the Cowboys tend to wait and wait and wait. So now Dallas is trapped. And so TJ Watt, if you go look at the last two years of TJ Watt’s production, he is better than Micah Parson’s last two years of production, but it’s kind of close. If I was Micah Parsons and I was Micah Parson’s agent, I’d want 85% I mean of of TJ Watt. TJ Watts got 30 sacks, I got 26. He got 63 quarterback hits, I got 56. Micah’s got more pressures. So again, he and his agent have an argument. If if if T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T TJ Watt’s getting 41 million, Micah’s got to get 37, 37 and a half, 38. He’s also four years younger. So to me, and I’ve said this before, there’s only one or two players per roster that you know very early that are stars, and it’s usually like quarterback, left tackle, edge rusher, maybe a great weapon like like and then there’s players like Josh Allen of Buffalo, Patrick Certan of Denver, uh Jaylen Carter of Philadelphia. I would call them all pro plus players. Those are generational players. You pay them early. You pay Jaylen Carter early. Rams are going to have this with Jared Verse. Pay him a year early. You may have won a roster on that. Well, the Cowboys are going to pay Dak top of the market. CD Lamb top of the market. They already are. Now they’re going to have Micah top of the market. And so, do I think Micah Parsons is worth that? No, I don’t. But Dallas is trapped because Jerry has too much influence on the draft. They haven’t drafted particularly well. And the Cowboys roster is so topheavy and so ordinary that whereas Philadelphia can move off stars and the Rams can move off stars, Dallas can’t. Rams could move off Jaylen Ramsey in his prime. Aaron Donald can retire two years later. The defensive line’s better. So when you draft like Kansas City or like a Baltimore or like a Philadelphia, you can move off players. You don’t get trapped. I mean, Dallas almost can’t afford not to can’t afford Micah Parsons. I mean, that’s where they’re at. So, it’s and this and this is every business, including the one I work for, is that, you know, the better job you do at paying the right people the right money, you have more flexibility. And so, like the the Eagles, the Chiefs, the Rams, the Ravens have incredible flexibility. They move off great players regularly. The Chiefs move off Tyreek Hill. Sneeed the corner. Rams move off Jaylen Ramsey. They can move off uh probably a year later than they wanted to. Cooper Cup. Ernest Jones the inside linebacker was a great player. They can move off guys because they draft well. Dallas doesn’t draft exceptionally well and they get trapped. So the deeper the roster, the more flexibility the company has. And and let me just throw this out there. Go look at the last five general managers to win Super Bowls. Do you think it’s a coincidence? Howie Roseman considered the best. Brett Vch argument second best. Less need Rams Jason Light who I’ve talked about for years. Bucks. You’re looking right there at four of the top probably six general managers in the sport. John Snder or the Seahawks is way up there. So, the better GM, the better the scouting department, the better you draft, the more flexibility you have to move off players. I do think there’s about 30 guys in the league tops that you just pay for them. Miles Garrett, Max Crosby, seven quarterbacks, six left tackle, you just pay for them. I don’t think Mike is one of those. But you get to a point now because they’ve drafted so with such mediocrity that you have to overpay for Dak CD Lamb and Micah. You’re kind of trapped. Here’s Micah this week on his contract talks. I was going to get mine no matter what. You know what I mean? Like the markets change every year. Their salary cap went up like another 18% this year. They numbers got nothing to do with mine and my numbers ain’t nothing got to do with them. Like I’m younger. Henderson. I mean, uh, Hudson’s coming off an injury. Like, everyone’s circumstances is completely different. Hutch is coming off his third year. Usually guys wait four years. So, it just all depends. Watt. I mean, he’s up there with Miles. So, you know, it’s different. Everyone’s circumstances differ. If TJ W gets 41, I’m the agent for Micah Parsons. I want 37 and a half. I want 38. And that gives the Cowboys three players at the top of the market. Not great, but I kind of think they’re trapped. All right, J-Mack, football talk. Ready to roll. Wait, it sounded like you think Micah Parsons would be okay with 38 when TJ Watt got 41. There’s no world where Micah Parsons isn’t demanding to be the highest paid. He’s going to want all the money. And I think Dallas is going to have to give it to him. Colin, they don’t have a choice. They mess this up. Yeah. I mean, you look at the highest paid non-quarterbacks in the league. Um, I I don’t have a lot of trouble. I mean, again, take out the teams. I don’t TJ Watt leads the NFL in sacks last five years. Jamar Chase arguably first, second best receiver. Miles Garrett is a generational all-time talent. Max Crosby, I think, is unbelievable. Justin Jefferson’s probably the best weapon in the league. I don’t have a problem with these. I don’t think in my opinion Micah is not in TJ Watt, Jamar Chase, Miles Garrett, Max Crosby, Justin Jefferson’s class. I think he’s more of a splash player. I I think he he probably is. But Colin, I’m just curious. Let’s look at those six names. Let’s tally up the playoff wins last year. TJ Watt zero. Jamar Chase did not make it. Garrett did not make it. Hunter, they got the win over the uh the Chargers. Um Max Crosby and the Raiders did not make the playoffs. and Justin Jefferson um you know yeah did did not work out great for them in the postseason. So I I don’t know if it translates and I know it sounds too coldw world to just say I’m not doing that but I keep going back to that Devin Booker deal in the NBA like I thought it was a horrible deal. I think this TJ Watt deal is horrible. I I it just doesn’t make sense. You’re not Well, I I I do think um I do think you can’t have a league where you just play the quarter you just pay a quarterback, right? We all know you pay the top quarterback. I do think there are positions that are important. For instance, I would never pay a corner. I mean, if you look at the positions, it’s linebacker, edge, receiver, edge, edge, edge, receiver. Those are the right positions to pay. I think there’s six positions in the NFL I I’m going to pay. We all know this. First of all, coach doesn’t work against my cap. I’ll pay the co I’ll pay Jim Harbaugh whatever he wants. But I think quarterback, left tackle, one weapon, uh, one to two players defensively in the box. So, if I had Jaylen Carter and an edge rusher, I’d probably pay both. In the secondary, I am a huge believer linebackers in secondary. You You should draft a corner every year. I want them cheap. I want my safeties, my corners, young because remember, defensive players, you know, this get hurt statistically more than offensive players. When players get hurt, you want them back on the field fast as possible. Well, who recuperates and recovers faster? Players under 27. Yeah. Not players 28 and older. I want my defense, which gets hurt a lot, young, rotational, twitchy, and recovering quickly from injury. To my point on the wide receiver bubble, Colin, tell me the best wide receiver in the AFC Championship game last year between the uh Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. There just wasn’t one. It’s not a great one. Eagles have two good ones. I’ll give him that. Washington, Terry McLuren, like you could pay your receivers, that’s fine, but just know that they’re not the guy that’s going to get you over the top. You need a balanced, deep roster, which is, as you said earlier, what the great GMs are doing. I think that’s the smart way to build a team as opposed to just, hey, let’s make him the highest paid non quarterback.

Colin Cowherd reacts to the Pittsburgh Steelers making T.J. Watt the highest paid non-QB in the NFL. Are they spending too much on defense? Colin moves on to discuss how T.J. Watt’s deal will impact Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys negotiations.

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