For the second time in a row, TJ Watt is having protracted contract negotiations with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2021, it took the two sides until September 9 to get his (at the time) record-breaking deal done. Three days later, Watt had two sacks in an upset Week 1 win and went on to a 22.5-sack season and the DPOY award.
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However, he was 27 years old back then, coming off a year when he led the league in sacks (15.5) and TFLs (23) in 2020. This time around, he’s on the wrong side of 30 and coming off a down year by his elite standards.
Are the Steelers lowballing their best player? It’s possible, because why else would these negotiations be taking so long? Apparently, everything is on the table for Watt during these negotiations. We doubt retirement is much of a consideration, but Rich Eisen raised the hypothetical and then posed the question: With his body of work so far, would he be a Hall of Famer if he retired today?
“Let me give you his numbers. 121 games played. Of his 462 total tackles, 331 of them are solo, 126 of them are for a loss, that’s tied for 26th all-time with another OG from PA, BG, Brandon Graham. Ahead of Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, and Ronde Barber. The three of them, what do they have in common? They are in the Hall of Fame,” Eisen pointed out.
“108.0 sacks, that’s 31st all-time, more than Charles Haley, Warren Sapp, Howie Long. What do they have in common? They’re enshrined,” he added.
The veteran broadcaster continued to make the case that the soon-to-be 31-year-old Watt could get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame based on his eight-year career so far. He did so by noting the players that finished their careers with similar numbers, and how many are in the Hall of Fame.
“33 forced fumbles, that’s tied for 20th all-time, with Reggie White and Charles Woodson. Ahead of Jared Allen, JJ Watt, Charles Haley, what do they have in common, Hall of Famers to be, or in?” Eisen added.
“23 single-season tackles for loss, that’s tied for 10th all time, and he’s got 22.5 sacks in a season, that’s tied with [Strahan] for most all-time. He won the DPOY in 2021, seven-time Pro Bowler, four-time First-Team All-Pro. He is the all-time franchise leader in sacks.”
Eisen’s resident Pennsylvania correspondent, T.J. Jefferson, agreed and said that apart from longevity and lack of playoff success, there are not many negatives to Watt’s candidacy despite the eight-year career. Generational talents like Luke Kuechley, Patrick Willis, and Terrell Davis made it in off the merits of their short-lived dominance. Watt would probably fall in the same category.
He’s also the second-fastest player to 100 sacks, which means if he doesn’t retire (which he won’t), he has a good chance of climbing very high in the all-time sack rankings if he plays into his mid-to-late thirties as most of the other guys at the top of the list did. If he has three more double-digit sack seasons (he has averaged 14.4 a year since his second season), he would vault into the top 10 all-time.
Then there would be no debate at all—not that there is much of one now.
