The Steelers are keeping their star defender.
On Thursday, Pittsburgh awarded Watt with a three-year, $123 million extension that includes $108 million fully guaranteed at signing. He is set to be paid an average of $41 million per year.
It's the second time in his career that he has signed a deal to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
The seven-time Pro Bowler, who led the league with six forced fumbles last season, has been in Pittsburgh his entire career. With his new three-year deal, the Steelers want to make sure that doesn't change anytime soon.
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Let's take a look at the details surrounding Watt's new contract with Pittsburgh, as well as his Steelers career.
T.J. Watt contract details
- Years: 3
- Value: $123 million
Watt's new deal is for three years and is worth a total of $123 million. Out of that, $108 million is guaranteed.
In 2021, Watt signed a four-year, $112 million contract with the Steelers, which went through the 2025 season. The contract included no guaranteed money with a salary cap hit of $30.418 million. So, instead of waiting until the end of his final season on contract, Pittsburgh decided to sign Watt to a new deal before the 2025-26 season.
With Watt's new deal, he's locked in with Pittsburgh for another three seasons, at least.
During the 2024-25 season, Watt was the 18th highest-paid defensive player in the league in terms of total cash earnings, per Sportrac.
T.J. Watt age
Watt is 30, and he'll turn 31 during the Steelers' 2025-26 season on Oct. 11. Over his eight-year NFL career, Watt has missed 14 games due to injury, most of which came in 2022 when he dealt with a pectoral tear.
T.J. Watt career earnings
Watt has earned $110,902,038 over his career. The vast majority of his earnings came with his four-year, $112 million contract extension he signed with Pittsburgh in Sept. 2021. His rookie deal with Pittsburgh was a 4-year, $9.25 million deal signed in 2017.
T.J. Watt stats
Watt has had an impressive career over his eight seasons in the league. He made seven Pro Bowls from 2018-24 and was named First Team All-Pro four times, and he won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021 after leading the league with 22.5 sacks. He also led the league in sacks in 2020 (15), 2023 (19).
In addition to sacks, Watt led the league in forced fumbles in 2019 (8) and 2024 (6) and tackles for loss in 2020 (23) and 2021 (21).
| Games | Comb | Solo | Sk | FF | TFL | INT |
| 15 | 54 | 40 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 1 |
| 16 | 68 | 50 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 0 |
| 16 | 55 | 35 | 14.5 | 8 | 14 | 2 |
| 15 | 53 | 43 | 15 | 2 | 23 | 1 |
| 15 | 64 | 48 | 22.5 | 5 | 21 | 0 |
| 10 | 39 | 27 | 5.5 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| 17 | 68 | 48 | 19 | 4 | 19 | 1 |
| 17 | 61 | 40 | 11.5 | 6 | 19 | 0 |