PITTSBURGH — It could be a year, or it could be 10 years — at this point in T.J. Watt’s career, the most prolific pass rusher in Pittsburgh Steelers history simply doesn’t know how long he wants to, or will, play the game of football.
Watt is a few years removed from being named NFL Defensive Player of the Year, when he tied Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record with 22.5 in 2021. He could approach Bruce Smith’s career sack record by the second half of his 30s if he stays healthy. Given that, it seems unrealistic that Watt will hang them up anytime soon.
But stranger things have happened, and Watt isn’t about to take five years — let alone next year, or even this season, his eighth in the NFL — for granted.
Watt is living in the now and will deal with tomorrow when it comes.
“I don’t know if I want to play forever, but who knows? It is too hard to say,” Watt said. “J.J. always said he didn’t want to play super long, then things happened and he ended up playing longer. I won’t know until that moment comes. I feel great right now, so I am kind of just living in the moment.”
Watt will turn 30 in October. His oldest brother, former Texans and Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt, retired at 33 after the 2022 season. Their middle brother, former Chargers and Steelers fullback Derek Watt, retired in March at 31. Neither was playing even close to the level that T.J. is now. T.J. led the league in sacks for the third time in four seasons in 2023 with 19, finishing runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting for the second time in his career.
But again: Stranger things have happened.
Aaron Donald retired in March at 32 years old, and he was arguably still the best defender in the NFL.
“I don’t have forever to play,” said Watt, who signed a four-year, $112 million deal in 2021 that runs through the 2025 season and has made about $90 million during his career. “I have always approached the game as right now, and I have never taken it for granted, and that hasn’t changed at all.”
Watt would be up for an extension next year that could pay him well over $100 million again. Realistically, nobody believes he is even close to retiring, especially because he’s still playing at an elite level. Watt has 96.5 career sacks in 104 career games (0.93 per game). If he maintains that pace and stays healthy, he could pass Smith’s record of 200 sacks a little bit after his 36th birthday in 2030.
“I don’t ever see him stopping,” outside linebackers coach Denzel Martin said. “Football lovers like him, I don’t ever see him stopping.”
“He’s a lifer,” said Cameron Heyward, who is entering his 13th season at age 35. “Everybody will eventually have to answer that question, but I will be utterly shocked if he retires anytime soon. There is a lot more in the tank there, but we have to keep him upright.”
That’s something that can derail a career quickly — injuries.
Watt has had a few over his career, most notably missing seven games in 2022 because of a torn pectoral muscle suffered in Week 1. He has missed 12 games in seven seasons, including last year’s AFC wild-card loss to the Bills. This offseason, Watt altered his workout regimen, focusing less on heavy lifting and personal bests in the weight room to work more on flexibility.
“Every offseason for him is something different,” Martin said.
Watt has incorporated more ankle/knee/hip mobility into his offseason workouts.
“You just have to be smarter,” Watt said. “It is about maintaining and staying healthy. That is the most important thing right now. All those things will continue to help me do my job as I get older.”
The Steelers are doing their part in keeping Watt as healthy as possible by limiting meaningless reps. And meaningless reps for Watt are pretty much anything other than the ones that come during a game.
There hasn’t been a hard-and-fast decision on how that will be done, but his reps will be limited in training camp. The Steelers have used a three-days-on, one-day-off rule for many players over 30 — practice three days, and then take a day off.
“We have to do that with a lot of guys,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “Even though they may have wanted to practice, that was a way to get them rested and try to save them from themselves, so to speak. We’ll make sure to take care of T.J. because we know how valuable he is.”
The Steelers did that with Heyward a few years ago.
“Once he got a little bit older, we kind of pulled him back, just because he would take every rep, and he loves it,” Austin said. “Sometimes, you just got to try to help them govern themselves so that we have them when we get into November and December, and we’re playing some really meaningful games.”
When Watt “held in” while looking for a new contract during training camp in 2021, he practiced just once before the season started. It ended up being the best season of his career.
Coincidence?
“I think there is something to fresh legs in general,” Martin said. “The fresh legs aspect is never a negative. You don’t want anybody to hold in but …”
For Watt, more than anything else, it is about winning in the playoffs. He’s acutely aware that he’s never won a playoff game in his seven-year career. That bothers him, especially considering other top sack artists Von Miller, Chris Jones, Cameron Jordan, Trey Hendrickson and Myles Garrett have a combined 35 postseason victories, including five Super Bowl titles.
“For me, it is all about no playoff wins,” Watt said. “I am trying to do anything I can do. We have so much turnover year to year and so many new guys that it is trying to learn as much as possible coming from guys from other organizations that have done it and won championships since being in the league.
“I am going to do whatever is possible to win. It is about not taking any day for granted, and when it comes down to executing and working, putting everything aside and getting it done.”