TJ Watt wants to stay with the Steelers long term

Russell Wilson isn’t the only player who he wants to stay with the Steelers.

Edge rusher TJ Watt, who has one year left on his contract, also said Monday that he hopes for an extension that will keep him in Pittsburgh beyond 2025.

“I want to be a Pittsburgh SteelerWatt said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “You know that. I don’t want to leave this place, especially in this — I want to be part of the solution. I have invested so much here. I saw so many guys. I mean, I want to help Cam Heyward get to where we need to go.

“I want to be part of the solution. I don’t want to leave this place. I love the people here. And that goes beyond just the coach, it’s the fan base, the people, the community and we owe it to them to get it right. And I want to be part of the solution, no

get out of here and go somewhere else. That is not my intention at all.”

Watt signed a four-year, $112 million extension in 2021 that will pay him a base salary of $21 million in 2025 in the final year of the contract.

The Steelers drafted Watt 30th overall in 2017, and while he’s a one-time Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Pro, the team is 0-5 in the postseason.

The Steelers’ 2024 season ended with a 28-14 loss to the Ravens, a game in which Watt had no stats despite completing 63 of 74 defensive snaps.

“It’s tough,” Watt said. “We’re sitting here at the same time as last year, the same time I was in this argument and the same questions, and I have the same answers. Obviously, I’m very frustrated with how things ended, and not just because of the last game, it’s in the last month of football.

“It’s a collection of things, and it starts with me, and I have to play better. We have to play better. There is not a single thing that needs fixing here. There’s a lot of things, but it starts with me inside and needing to play better in bigger moments and it’s going to be a long offseason that I have to sit with that.”

Watt did not register a stat of any kind in the final two games of the season. According to Josh Rowntree of 93.7 The Fan, Watt went his final 193 snaps of the season without recording a stat.

Watt was a second team All-Pro.