NFL Insider Projects Potential Record-Setting Deal for Steelers’ T.J. Watt

Pundits have left little doubt that the Pittsburgh Steelers will make edge rusher T.J. Watt one of the highest-paid defenders in the league again with his next contract. How high Watt lands on the highest average annual salary list for defenders, though, remains to be seen.

Bleacher Report’s James Palmer reported Wednesday that it could be at the very top, even higher than Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett.

“I’m hearing there’s a chance Watt gets past $40 [million per season], which is something we’re really keeping an eye on, right? That if he gets that $40 million per year at the age that he is at. ” Palmer said on his NFL Insider Notebook. “He has every right to ask for it. I’ve talked on here a lot about the comparisons between him and Myles Garrett. The numbers are almost identical in every aspect in terms of superlatives and in terms of numbers, and they came in the same draft class.

“He has the right to try to get that. We’ll see.”

Watt will enter the final season of the four-year $112 million extension he signed just ahead of the 2021 NFL campaign. At the time, the deal made Watt the highest-paid NFL defender.

On that extension, the edge rusher has received an average annual salary of $28 million.

But other defenders have blown past that historic deal over the past four years. Garrett signed a four-year, $160 million extension with the Browns this offseason.

Garrett’s contract will pay him $40 million per season through 2030.