Happy, healthy and now extremely rich, T.J. Watt is happy to have what can sometimes be the cantankerous part of being a professional football player -- contract negotiations -- behind him.
Watt signed a four-year, $112-million deal to stay with the Steelers through 2025 after the team's practice on Thursday. The deal includes a $35-million signing bonus and $80 million in fully guaranteed money. It also makes Watt, at an average of $28 million per season, the NFL's highest-paid defensive player.
"It was a long process and I have two brothers who have kind of gone through it: Derek once with the Steelers and J.J., too," Watt said Friday after the Steelers wrapped up their preparations to play their regular season opener in Buffalo on Sunday. "They weren’t much help when it came to remembering what it was like, and I kind of understand now. I remember asking J.J. early on, I said, 'Well, how did your negotiations go?' and he said, 'Once you sign on that dotted line, man, you kind of forget what happened leading up to that moment.'
"And that’s kind of how this whole thing has been for me too. There were some long days for sure, but like I said, it’s all paid off and now I’m just focused on playing football."
The Steelers hope he's ready to do that right away against the Bills in two days.
Watt, who has been working hard with trainers on the sideline throughout the process, feels that will be the case.
"This week in practice I felt great," he said. "I feel very, very confident, but at the same time, I also have to be smart and make sure that if I am feeling super gassed, I take myself out of the game. But like I said, I don’t think any of that’s gonna be an issue because I do truly feel great."
Watt sat out all of the team's training camp practices leading up to this point, only taking part on a full-time basis starting Wednesday. And the Steelers have a long-standing rule that they don't negotiate new deals once the regular season begins, putting a deadline on getting the deal done in time for this season.
Had the Steelers not worked something out with Watt, he would have played this season on the final year of his rookie deal and made $10.089 million. Or would he have?
"I’m glad we didn’t get to that point," Watt said when asked if he would have considered sitting out the game.
Instead, the Steelers know they'll have the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year award finalist and defending league sack leader in the lineup.
"There’s a sense of relief, to be quite honest with you," Mike Tomlin said. "We can get focused on this — not that we haven’t been, but in circumstances like this, I field a bunch of questions regarding it, and I like to focus my energies on the Buffalo Bills. He’s deserving. We’re glad to have him. It’s good for all parties involved."
Watt's teammates realized that, as well. They've been outspoken regarding his circumstances, backing him to a man despite having arguably their best player standing and watching practices on the sideline as they prepared for the 2021 season.
Watt appreciated their patience.
"When you go through something like this and you’re trying to stand up for what you believe in and you’re doing it by yourself, having the reassurance of the people that you care about their opinions the most means a lot," Watt said. "There were definitely some moments through this whole process where you do feel like you’re doing it almost by yourself, and that’s why it’s so important that those guys said those nice things. I didn’t ask them to, and they didn’t tell me they were going to.
"It was always refreshing when my agent or someone would text me showing me what people were saying in the media or what people would say to me when I’d walk past them in the hallway. Everything from teammates to the people in the cafeteria to the trainers and everything. I’m just overwhelmed with how many people have shown their support and I’m very thankful for it."
They knew what kind of impact Watt can have on games. In four seasons, the former 2017 first-round draft pick has recorded 49.5 sacks. He is the only player in the NFL to have at least 13 sacks in each of the past three seasons.
And now, he's the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL, one who held firm in getting the Steelers to do something they've never done before with a contract extension -- guarantee money on a new deal beyond the first two seasons.
With that comes pressure. But as the younger brother of three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, J.J. Watt, he's also not unaccustomed to pressure.
"I’ve been dealing with pressure my whole life," Watt said. "Everybody always asks me, 'What’s it like to be the younger brother of XYZ?' You know the answers to all of that. I’m built for this. I truly believe that nothing monetary will change me as a person. The work that I put in will not change, it will only grow.
"It’s my job to prove to all these people that have put this amount of money to me and stood on the table for me to say they want me here that they’re right. And I know I can do it. I know exactly what it takes. I’ve been doing it my whole life. It’s about just continuing to do it and staying hungry, and I guarantee everybody here right now and everybody in this building, I am still hungry."