2021 Steelers Season Recall: The T.J. Watt “Holdout”
Steel City Underground presents our 2021 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
For several seasons the Pittsburgh Steelers had attempted to operate without any offseason drama. It seems as if something would always happen, however.
There was LeGarrette Blount getting caught in a car with drugs with Le’Veon Bell. Bell sitting out of training camp – twice. Antonio Brown forcing a trade in the offseason. The passing of wide receivers coach Daryl Drake. COVID-19.
And now: the T.J. Watt holdout. Or was it a holdout?
Training camp opened with a bang: David DeCastro was released, Trai Turner was signed to replace him, and the team added veteran edge rusher Melvin Ingram to the roster.
Then camp opened, this time once again at Heinz Field, as the NFL denied the Steelers the use of St. Vincent College in Latrobe for a second-straight season, citing COVID-19 protocols. Fans would shuffle into the stadium and not before long, social media started buzzing that T.J. Watt wasn’t practicing.
That was a bit of a white lie, but it didn’t stop the clickbait tabloid style websites from spreading it: many of whom weren’t anywhere near the city limits of Pittsburgh let alone at practice to observe what was going on.
The truth was somewhere in the middle. Watt wasn’t participating in any of the team drills, especially those with pads, but was at practice. Each day he would do the light warmups with his teammates and then split off to the side to do his own work.
This was very similar to what James Harrison would do during his second stint with the Steelers, often seen sporting a full hooded warmup uniform in the blistering sun.
That didn’t stop those sites from speculating about Watt’s contract status, which soon grew to the national media level. Watt may have been there, but this was – without a doubt – a holdout for a new deal. Watt entered 2021 on a fifth-year option of his rookie contract, which obviously paid much less than the league’s premier pass rusher would be paid on the open market.
Yet, there was no word from Watt or his agents, and the team would not comment on the situation.
Rumors started to swirl, even suggesting what the Steelers could get in a trade for the linebacker, as well as others believing he wasn’t worth being paid among the highest at his position. (Yeah, imagine having those takes looking back right now!)
Watt entered the 2021 season with 49.5 sacks, leading the Steelers in each of the last three seasons – all Pro Bowl campaigns. He was twice named a first-team All-Pro, as well as a finalist in each of the previous two seasons for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.
His detractors felt the cliff would come soon and a big payout wouldn’t pay big dividends. He wouldn’t play well after not fully participating in camp… Boy were they wrong.
Watt signed a landmark four-year, $112 million contract, including a $35,593,470 signing bonus, with $80,000,000 guaranteed. The deal broke traditional business for the Steelers, who rarely guaranteed as much money and any of it beyond the first season.
What Watt would do after being paid is another story.
Watt would go on to be named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year following a season in which he would tie Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record with 22.5 sacks. Watt would also force five fumbles, knockdown seven passes and reach the quarterback 39 times.
That’s not the most impressive number, as T.J. would only play 15 of 17 regular season games, missing roughly four more halves in addition to those two full games and still tie the NFL’s single season sack record.
In addition, he now trails Steelers greats Jason Gildon by four sacks and James Harrison by 8.5 sacks for the second and all-time franchise lead respectively.
And that’s having only played 77 games to Gildon’s 158 and Harrison’s 177.
Unofficially, he still trails “Mean” Joe Greene (77.5 in 181 games) and L.C. Greenwood (78.0 in 170 games) if you retroactively count sacks before they became official in 1982.
Considering what Watt did in only his first five seasons, it stands to reason he was a must-have player to retain and that his contract turned out to be a bargain in some sense. Still, looking back on this silly situation from last year’s training camp, it’s hard to imagine what it may have been like if T.J. Watt wasn’t on the field for the Steelers in 2021.
