I saw that but not seeing it anywhere else made me think it could be a false report.
Watt contract starting to get annoying
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Greed is amazing.
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I hope you're right, or at least that all involved are good with the delay.
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And to think we can redo this entire process all over again next with Watt if we can't work a deal out. Nice. And then Fitzpatrick says show me my money also. Should be good times.
I think the contract is still in play. The team will have off four days starting tomorrow and then back to work on Monday to prepare for Buffalo. I still think that he will be signed prior to Monday, pure speculation on my part just a guess. Why drag the guy through this for the entire training camp if you were truly working on the contract
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I too haven't seen anything and hope it's a false claim. I have confidence in our front office but as with BELL, anything is possible. NOT saying TJ's decision making ability is anywhere near what BELL's was. TJ has a more balanced sense of decision making ability and I'm sure hoping something will get done.
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In the end if it is true at least Watt got himself out of training camp drills.
A more balanced sense of decision making? Do you know both of these men personally? Bell wanted to be paid upfront with signing bonus. Steelers balked. Was Bell going to be the highest paid offensive player? No. Was he even going to be the highest paid RB ever? No.
Now Watt wants to be the highest paid defensive player EVER. Now there might be some issues with the Steelers wanting some leeway because of the controlling years they have yet. If this is all true then I really don't think Watt's sense of decision making is much better if at all than Bell's.
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****.......not what was expected by any of us......
Wrong I completely expected it. I made a thread on it about 2 weeks ago. The Steelers never needed the highest paid ANYTHING to win, that's why we're in contention every year. Especially when you talk about highest paid OLB when we find talent at that position every year. We have guys right now that's ready to go in a couple years if TJ's not on the team.
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Meh. Some people have been saying the Rooney's won't want to shell out a record $$$$ on signing bonus. Now it is being reported they want a discount for remaining control years and rightfully so. I have been saying simply let him play out his option year and tag him twice. I honestly didn't think it was going to ever get done but in the past week or so I started to think that it wouldn't not get done. If this story is true .....this had to be an issue from the beginning. And if that is so why are we only hearing about it now. One reason I think it might be false.
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Yet for years we have paid our core guys the highest salaries when their contracts were signed. The Rooney's pay their players....simply with smaller amounts of guarantee $$$$$.
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Well Gerry Dulac just said in his chat this morning that Watt's extension is imminent so we'll see.
Hope that's just BS because I doubt he will play under the tag for 2 years. That's a huge risk and dumb move with your star player. You'll end up losing him and getting nothing in return. If you don't want to pay him, sign and then trade him. Someone will take on his contract and give up some pick for him.
If he wants to be the highest paid defensive player in the NFL then let him play out his contract and prove he still deserves it. I'm sure they're glad they didn't pay Dupree now and they let him play out his contract and tag'd him. Then we would've had a player coming off a major injury and perhaps a better player sitting on the bench behind him in Highsmith who's playing better for a whole lot less now. Trust me the Steelers know what they're doing.
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I was thinking along these lines, too. Lots of cap usage. If the injury bug hits, we're screwed.
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Neither of us know these guys. My opinion is just that and differs from yours as we can see. Not that I owe an explaination but just out of curiosity did BELL show up and practice at training camp, even if just non-contact drills...................that in itself shows more balanced (good faith) than what BELL displayed. I lived through the BELL story just as you so we both know how that went down.
Now you are saying TJ wants to be the highest defensive player ever paid and here I propose how do you know this, did TJ "rap" that out to you somewhere along the line?
Face it, neither one of us know whats going on behind closed doors. I understand the "STEELERS" way on contract(s). I also know they honor their contracts and players.
I'm hoping for a positive outcome whether long term contract or short term existing contract / tag, either way the underclassmen need to develope and be ready because they may be called upon to better our team, the beloved PITTSBURGH STELERS, after all that is what we all ultimately want.
I always enjoy your post(s) and knowledge along the way.
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Just every talking head has stated he will be the highest paid defensive player ever is what I based that off of. Watt is at the facility but has not put on any pads. To me it is the same as being at home. You might think it is something special though and fine. In the end Bell didn't have an option year and was Tagged after his 4th year. Watt IS under contract. Bell wasn't. So while you applaud one holding out while signed you frown on the other while he wasn't signed.
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I think Watt is amazing, but I'm not too excited about him being the highest paid defender ever. I worry the size of these recent defensive contracts (Garrett, etc) have outpaced the value of the position. I do think the Steeler organization is best positioned to say if this is true, and they'll do the proper thing.
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I'll add that unlike a QB, these defensive guys are more likely to get hurt ala Bud, yet they're asking for money like QBs made just a few years ago.
With 3 large non-quarterback contracts coming due this year or next what are the Steeler options with Watt, Shuster and Fitzpatrick? Can they afford to sign them all? If Watt gets 25+ million/year, Fitzpatrick is going to be in the neighborhood of 18-20 million/year and Smith-Shuster will probably be the same as Fitz. On the low end that would be about 61 million/year for 3 players and they are expecting the cap to be around 208 million next year. That is about 30% of the cap and that doesn't include a quarterback. What if Ben balls out and wants to play another year? He isn't playing for peanuts.
Do the Steelers consider moving one of them this year before the season? Smith-Shuster would probably be the most likely candidate, then Watt and then Minkah just based on depth on the team.
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Do the Steelers consider moving one of them this year before the season? Smith-Shuster would probably be the most likely candidate, then Watt and then Minkah just based on depth on the team.
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Somebody has to be able to sack or get their hands on the passes of those big money QBs. Defenses are not as important to a team's success as QBs, but you need to be able slow those guys down a bit, especially in the playoffs.
There are risks involved, but teams value edge players enough to still give a quality one like Dupree huge money, despite a major knee injury.
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The Steelers have never been shy about making players the highest paid at their respective positions. They just recently made Heyward the highest paid defensive player over 30. Pittsburgh's defense is good because they can get to the quarterback and Watt is one of the best in the league at doing it. It's a premium position and he deserves premium play as one of the best defensive players in the game right now. As we saw this year, the salary cap is more of a suggestion than anything else. We saw the team go from one of the worst positions in the league to having plenty of room and adding multiple players during the offseason. I will never understand why fans get worked up paying GREAT players when the Steelers front office can just work its salary cap magic. Give me Watt as the highest paid defender for one year to help the defense carry a Mason Rudolph led offense in 2022.
But why settle for Rudolph when we would have enough money to actually get a high end top of the line QB. Me id rather have the QB than a Rudolph led team and leading the league in sacks again. We've led the league in sacks for the last 4 years and look how far we got with that. QB play in post season and post season defense has still been the main reason why we havnt been winning playoff games. Watt was no where to be found in the Browns playoff loss.
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TJ just posted a picture of himself signing something on his instagram.