A Watt to Resender?

Would Seahawks make second major offseason trade with Steelers?

Jun 30, 2025

With Jalen Ramsey trade rumors officially off of the table for the remainder of the offseason (he was sent to the Steelers on Monday in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick and some other stuff involved), the NFL media was left with no other choice but to turn their attention to a new unhappy superstar who could refill the rumor mill.

T.J. Watt.

Adam Schefter conveniently waited to drop this rumor that has been out there for “weeks” according to him until after Pittsburgh acquired Ramsey:

As Trey Hendrickson’s stalemate with the Cincinnati Bengals has been far more “stale” than “mate!”, the prospect of moving Watt reignates the flame inside all NFL fans to be stimulated 365 days per year.

Speaking of — have you subscribed to Seaside Joe, a daily Seahawks newsletter yet?

Many of you have encouraged Seaside Joe to talk about Hendrickson, so I’m going to run with this T.J. Watt non-story on Monday because whether it is realistic or not there’s ALWAYS some interest in how feasible a trade is and why it may NOT become a real thing. Schefter wanted the hits on the original tweet but he always knew he was going to immediately follow it up with “but probably not haha”…

Would Steelers trade T.J. Watt?

Never say never when there’s money involved.

Watt is entering a contract year and is set to make $21 million (non-guaranteed) in 2025. It would not be difficult to argue that this is the worst contract in the NFL for any player.

Myles Garrett signed an extension with the Browns this year that paid him $88.8 million fully guaranteed signing, with a probably-not-coincidental $21.54 million signing bonus…

Watt is set to earn $21.05 million this year. Garrett got a single check worth more than Watt’s entire 2025 salary.

Watt’s leverage in negotiations with the Steelers is TREMENDOUS because he knows that at the very least they are cheating him out of roughly $68 million.

In addition to Garrett’s fully-guaranteed money, he is also likely to earn at least another $55 million or so, which is the rest of his guaranteed money on the four-year, $160 million he signed to stay in Cleveland.

If Watt was a free agent this year, he would have signed a contract that paid him more than $100 million over his current deal in just guaranteed money alone.

For the Pittsburgh Steelers to be adament that they will never trade T.J. Watt, they can only be saying that for one two reasons:

They’re lying (either to the media or to themselves)
They 100% plan to pay him

Here is what won’t happen: Watt will not return to the field without a new contract. There’s just too much money involved for him to risk serious injury knowing that even if he plays out the 2025 season and doesn’t get hurt, the Steelers will still just give him the franchise tag in 2026.

Watt playing for $21 million simply isn’t going to happen. He’ll sit out the entire season before that happens.

By all accounts, the Steelers have the money to pay him. Despite adding Ramsey’s bloated salary on Monday, they also relieved themselves of Fitzpatrick’s and that should mostly offset the difference. According to OvertheCap.com, the Steelers could be hovering between $80 and $100 million in 2026 cap space.

And unless Aaron Rodgers has an impressive comeback season and wants to return in 2026 (he says he doesn’t), the Steelers also don’t have a quarterback worth paying next year.

Pittsburgh will probably satisfy Watt’s contract demands eventually and the only reason for hope by fans of other teams who would like to see a trade happen is the fact that the Steelers haven’t done it yet.

What would it take to trade for Watt?

First it would have to take the Steelers balking at an extension for Watt, which could happen because he turns 31 in October and he’s a football player. It wasn’t long ago that Von Miller was considered the best pass rusher in the NFL and look at the comparison:

Miller finished first or second-team All-Pro in seven of his first eight seasons, age 22-29
Miller’s last Pro Bowl came in 2019 when he was 30
Miller missed the 2020 season with an ankle injury
Miller helped the Rams win the Super bowl in 2021 at age 32, but didn’t have to contribute on a full-time basis
Miller signed a huge free agent deal with the Bills in 2022 and missed six games
Miller didn’t make any starts or record any sacks in 2023
Miller didn’t make any starts and was a part-time role player in 2024
Miller was released in 2025 and no team has signed him — he’s 36

That’s Von Miller. Here’s T.J. Watt:

Watt has made first or second-team All-Pro in five of the past six seasons
Watt was 30 last seaso and he posted 11 sacks, which was his lowest total for a complete or near-complete season since his rookie year in 2017
Watt could help a team win the Super Bowl in the next couple of seasons, but can he be trusted to still be a premier edge rusher in 2027 or 2028?

It’s not as though the Steelers have hesitated to extend Watt for no reason. Although the team did wait until training camp to extend Watt in 2021 (and he was willing to hold out of training camp until they did), there has to be more cause for concern on both sides now that he’s in his thirties.

The Steelers are concerned that Watt is almost 31 and Watt is concerned that the Steelers know his birthday and maybe won’t give him all the guarantees that he got the last time.

If we do get to the point where T.J. Watt is traded, it is only because the Steelers are worried about a Von Miller situation. Too many teams have been left holding the bag and publicly ridiculed for paying over-30 veterans tens of millions of dollars for doing practically no work.

The Seahawks best know this today not necessarily because of someone they overpaid but a player who they now get at a discount thanks to the Rams overpaying him:

Cooper Kupp.

Just like Miller, Kupp parlayed his strong 2021 Super Bowl season with the Rams into a massive contract in 2022. The Rams ripped up Kupp’s old deal when he was turning 29 (which is even older for a receiver than 31 is for a pass rusher) and gave him a contract that would eventually net Kupp $70 million!

Here’s what the Rams got for their $70 million re-investment:

33 of a possible 51 games
201 catches (67 per season)
2259 yards (753 per season)
17 TD (6 per season)
7.7 yards per target

The Rams paid Kupp like the Offensive Player of the Year that he was in 2021, but at his age they should have just been paying him like a sometimes-injured receiver who was about to turn 30.

This all feeds into the “What would it cost to trade for Watt?” question this way:

If the Steelers are even willing to trade Watt, it’s because they don’t want to meet his reasonably-expensive contract demands.
If the Steelers are hesitant, then other teams will be hesitant
If other teams are hesitant, then the market for Watt isn’t 31 teams…it might only be 3-5 other teams…maybe not even that many
You need a market to drive up the price of a trade

So remarkably enough, even if T.J. Watt could be the best defensive player in the entire league right now, the Steelers might not be able to get a first round pick for him because the reason for his holdout is that he’s a 31-year-old edge rusher (older than future Hall of Famer Von Miller when his game fell apart; older than future Hall of Fame brother J.J. when his career hit the skids; almost as old as Aaron Donald when he retired) who wants a market-setting contract extension.

Even though Watt the player is attractive to all 32 teams, his age relative to his contract demands is like the school dance where your parents are the chaperones: As tempted as you are to make a move and let loose, you can’t escape the feeling that you’re being watched by the eyes of judgment. Worse yet, that you’ll end up being embarrassed in front of your entire class.

You do not have to ask yourself if you want the Seahawks to have T.J. Watt.

Because we already know what the answer is for most of you: Yes. Especially if it only takes a second round pick.

You ONLY have to ask yourself if you want the Seahawks to pay T.J. Watt a $40 million/year contract that won’t even start until he’s 32.

That is an old age for a football player. Any football player. Setting aside legends like Bruce Smith and Reggie White, the vast majority of Hall of Fame edge rushers stopped being productive around their early 30s.

Lawrence Taylor was slowing down by 31
Michael Strahan led the league in sacks at 32, but wasn’t the same after that
DeMarcus Ware’s final great season came at 29, while his last double-digit sack season was at 32
Julius Peppers was good in his 30s, but certainly not great like he was before he turned 30

Don’t you think that part of the reason that Donald retired at 32 was that he was afraid of being a worse player if he continued to play last year?

Even the Cleveland Browns and Myles Garrett has all the makings to become a cautionary tale. The fact that it was the Browns — the worst decision-makers in the NFL — who did it might only emphasize to their dominant division rivals that extending Watt at 31 could be a mistake.

Yes, T.J. Watt is an elite player. But at what cost?

Share Seaside Joe

Should the Seahawks trade for Watt if it’s even possible?

It should be clear by now that my answer is a definitive “NO”. Yours could be different and your opinion on the matter could turn out to be a better decision than mine, but Seattle has probably hit their quota on over-30 pass rushers already with DeMarcus Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu.

And if they’re lacking in those, they can still always sign Von Miller.

I’m also not as convinced as Adam Schefter and others that the Steelers are determined to give T.J. Watt what he wants because of all the reasons in this newsletter today. The Myles Garrett contract is more likely to be a net loss than a net win for any team that gives it to Watt at age 31 — starting at age 32 — and basically the entire history of NFL players who cross that barrier.

Since 2021, Watt has also shown up on the injury report for:

11/21 - Knee injury
11/21 - Hip injury
8/22 - Arthroscopic knee surgery
8/21 - Groin injury
11/21 - Torn Pectoral
12/23 - Concussion
1/24 - MCL sprain
12/24 - Ankle sprain

That’s like eight injuries to almost every part of the body in less than four years.

Where this holdout ends up is anyone’s guess because of all the conflicting factors at play here:

T.J. Watt should not show up and play for $21 million, that’s a horrible deal for a DPOY candidate
The Steelers should be afraid of paying him $40 million per year
The Steelers should balk at offers of only a second round pick to trade Watt

Watt does seem to have more leverage than the Steelers do because Pittsburgh has invested so much into being Super Bowl contenders this year including Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Darius Slay, and now Jalen Ramsey. They also have enough upcoming cap space to “waste” some of it, but it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t come to regret it when Watt turns 33 or 34 and is owed another $60 million guaranteed as that has happened a lot lately.

Just ask the Dolphins about Ramsey.

This is a problem for the Steelers. Maybe it’s a problem some teams would like to have, but I don’t think one of those teams is the Seahawks.

Seaside Joe