{"id":216472,"date":"2025-07-18T09:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/216472\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T09:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:26:13","slug":"tj-watt-gets-his-steelers-payday-with-123-million-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/216472\/","title":{"rendered":"TJ Watt gets his Steelers payday with $123 million contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

T.J. Watt is now the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 star linebacker agreed to a three-year, $123 million contract extension with Pittsburgh on Thursday, according to multiple reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deal includes Watt being fully guaranteed $108 million at signing and the AAV of $41 million makes it the highest deal for any non-QB position player in NFL history, ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter reported.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"SteelersSteelers star TJ Watt has agreed to a three-year, $123 million contract extension. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The ESPN insider had also reported that the deal had been in the works for months before it was agreed upon on Thursday, roughly a week before the Steelers kick off training camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There had been uncertainty about Watt\u2019s future with the team<\/a>, with the seven-time Pro Bowler having sat out of mandatory minicamp in June due to the contract dispute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It had been previously reported that Watt had wanted to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league\u2019s history, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s Gerry Dulac saying as much as recently as earlier this month on \u201cThe Rich Eisen Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agreement\u2019s average annual value of $41 million eclipses the previous record contract for a defender set by Cleveland defensive lineman and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in March.<\/p>\n

Watt\u2019s annual average salary is also tick above what Bengals wide receiver Ja\u2019Marr Chase received<\/a> when he (briefly) became the league\u2019s highest-paid non-quarterback a few days after Myles Garrett agreed to terms with the Browns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watt has seven double-digit sack seasons since he came into the NFL in 2017 and has the most sacks \u2014 108 \u2014 in that span.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TJTJ Watt reacts during a Steelers game in November 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n

He tied Michael Strahan\u2019s single-season sacks record of 22.5 in 2021.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Watt appeared to celebrate by making a rare Instagram post on Thursday afternoon, sharing a picture of him flexing in his signature No. 90 jersey. <\/p>\n

Watt also posted a photo in his Instagram stories of him posing alongside prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and third-year Steelers outside linebacker Nick Herbig.<\/p>\n

Watt had the support of his teammates for the team to get some sort of deal done, with Cam Heyward jokingly saying on \u201cThe Rich Eisen Show\u201d earlier this week that he would tell general manager Omar Khan \u201cthat\u2019s not happening\u201d<\/a> if the Steelers thought of trading Watt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want [Watt] to get paid what he deserves,\u201d Heyward added. \u201cThat dude is one of the most fierce and best players in our league. And he\u2019s respected throughout the league. I\u2019ve had the best time being able to play with him, and I hope this year is not the last time we play together, because that dude, that\u2019s my running mate, and we create a lot of havoc together. And I just want to see that guy continue to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, and be a one-helmet guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 with AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T.J. Watt is now the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.\u00a0 The Steelers\u2019 star linebacker agreed to a three-year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,57,9,20189,8576],"class_list":{"0":"post-216472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-sports-contracts","13":"tag-tj-watt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114873525130620742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}