T.J. Watt is going to be richer by over $10 million this 2021 NFL season after the Pittsburgh Steelers exercised their fifth-year option on the linebacker. However, there's no guarantee that he would remain a Steeler past the 2021 season, as he's bound to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022.
Meanwhile, in likely a totally irrelevant development to this contract extension drama, Watt is reportedly not among the set of team Steelers captains for the 2021 campaign.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin recently spoke about the matter, noting that he has no interest in anything that can be read between the lines of Pittsburgh players not selecting Watt as a team captain this time around.
Per Steelers Depot:
As for T.J., for whatever reason, he was not voted a captain this year. And that's all we know. He wasn't voted captain. We don't know if he was eligible to be voted captain. All head coach Mike Tomlin would offer on the matter during his Wednesday comments was that “all those guys vote and their votes speak. I'm not interested in interpreting it. I just report the news.”
Watt is an undeniably fantastic asset for the Steelers, hence their decision to pick up their option on him. He is a disruptive force on the defensive side of the ball. That being said, Pittsburgh appears to be adamant in sticking to its tradition when it comes to doling out guaranteed contracts “beyond Year One,” according to Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network.
It may take some time before this contract extension issue gets sorted out. In any case, watch out for Watt and the Steelers to go all out on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 of the season.
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