{"id":17512,"date":"2025-07-17T23:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T23:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/17512\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T23:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T23:12:09","slug":"tj-watt-gets-his-steelers-payday-with-123-million-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/17512\/","title":{"rendered":"TJ Watt gets his Steelers payday with $123 million contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>T.J. Watt is now the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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<p>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,<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AdamSchefter\/status\/1945941082543738933\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter reported.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36567942\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2191493820.jpg\" alt=\"Steelers star TJ Watt has agreed to a three-year, $123 million contract extension.\" class=\"wp-image-36567942\"  \/>Steelers star TJ Watt has agreed to a three-year, $123 million contract extension. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>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<p>There had been <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/29\/sports\/t-j-watt-absent-from-steelers-otas-as-j-j-turns-up-contract-pressure\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">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<p>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<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66699219;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36567944\" width=\"394\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1773472327.jpg\" alt=\"TJ Watt reacts during a Steelers game in November 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-36567944\"  \/>TJ Watt reacts during a Steelers game in November 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>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<p>He tied Michael Strahan\u2019s single-season sacks record of 22.5 in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The edge rusher was spotted seemingly working out with fellow teammate Nick Herbig in an Instagram Story post on Thursday earlier in the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/16\/sports\/cameron-heyward-reveals-hed-put-a-stop-to-steelers-trading-t-j-watt\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he would tell general manager Omar Khan \u201cthat\u2019s not happening\u201d<\/a> if the Steelers thought of trading Watt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\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","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,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,1321,99,10538,3659],"class_list":["post-17512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-sports-contracts","tag-tj-watt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}