hypothetical

what could we get for TJ and minkah? 1, 2 and 3? do you think they could be worth that much? what combo do you think we could expect for them if traded?

 

I'm thinking both getting up there in NFL age. Could see some teams wanting them but not at a great cost. I want Watt to retire a Steeler.

 

They seemed

would you be willing to pay TJ $40M per for that nostalgic retirement? Not me, but I’m less emotional about individual players

 

This again?
Come on @mac daddyo

 

depends on what they really think about herbig continuing to get better and they already have highsmith so you have guys that could start. it's not like they would have to rely on a draft pick at this point. i'm just saying the cupboard isn't bare at that position. i get it it is not at the TJ level but...

minkah i think could be upgraded very easily. i think injuries are taking their toll on him ever getting back to what he was. could be wrong but as we know father time is undefeated.

watt we could have this year and franchise him next. the cost will be high next season to sign him. are we wasting herbig? should we try to move highsmith instead and pay TJ? what would he fetch? i'm sure the talk is going on about these players. they have to upgrade the offense to a point of being competitive and the discrepancy difference of how money between offense and defense is spent. it's way out of balance at this point. is a QB more important than a pass rusher? i guess that is the question.

 

watt rarely makes a season to the end playing like he does in the beginning. he has had some nagging injuries many a season. it wasn't just last year. just sayin. we also have to figure in the cost after this year which is year 9. will he still be the same in year 10,11,12? still very good i imagine but like jj, the injuries took their toll. believe me i want him to retire a steeler. just looking at it from a business perspective.

 

Yep. Too many times when they needed him the most, he wasnt able to go or not at form.

 

I don't believe Minkah has any trade value at all at this point. I would think that TJ would still bring in a nice pick package. I doubt highly the Steelers move on from either one.

 

We'd be lucky to find a team willing to trade for Minkah right now. His cap hit is high and his production over the last two seasons is poor. Our best shot at moving on from him is to have a bounce back year and trade him after the 2026 season if we really want to. The most likely scenario is that he has a third consecutive poor season then gets cut after the season with a post June 1 designation.

As for TJ, I would imagine we could get at least a first round pick for him. A large contract is looming for him, but a team that considers itself a contender might be willing to give up their first and third for him and pay him anyways. I know we have looked at a few edge rushers in the draft, so there might be some thought to drafting his replacement sometime in the near future. I love TJ Watt and would hate to see him play for another team, but he isn't getting any younger (going to turn 31 during the season) , he's dealt with a few injuries the past couple years, and I have a feeling that his production will fall off a cliff similar to his brother. JJ played in 31 games in his year 30, 31, and 32 seasons and got only 10 total sacks. He had a nice final year in Arizona with 12.5 in 16 games but he definitely was not the same guy. I'd hate to see us give TJ a mega deal like Myles Garrett and go watch him battle injuries and slowly decline. He still has some good football left in him for a couple years, but health is a concern.

I would consider trading TJ for the right price. I wouldn't do it just to do it, but if he wants to go to a contender and some team is willing to ship us a first plus more... then we'd have to at least consider it.

 

I don't think you could get even that much for Minkah. If you graph out his NFL career, you can see what the future holds for him. He's on a steady decline. He has had some great seasons with us, but the majority of what he has left is just his leadership and knowledge. I don't see other teams giving up much for that.

 

There does come a time to trade your vets. Youth is really the name of a game.
I wouldn't want to trade Watt. I still want to find ways to make him more of a threat.
I wish I could add a QB that would get him a ring he deserves.. then we could move on.

 

The problem with Minkah is that I think his decline is either on him getting worse (potentially not working as hard?) or on the DC mis-utilizing him. He's played poorly for too long for it to be a "bad stretch" or "bad luck". Its pretty weird for a player to start his "steady decline with age" at 27 years old. He is only 28 right now... He just hasn't been good. Definitely is a head scratcher because he is still in his prime. Ages 26-30 should be peak performance, but he signed a contract, had a pretty good year then just fell off a cliff. I certainly wasn't expecting it.

I think you're right about his trade compensation though. We'd be lucky to find someone willing to take on a struggling safety with a high cap hit. If we did, it wouldn't be much more than a 6th or 7th round pick. It's more likely we wouldn't have a trade partner at all.

 

Watt has the highest percentage of snaps amongst edge rushers and also has the highest percentage of double team. All that take their toll over the long season.

 

I mean if we want to become the browns, yes this will be a great idea.

 

it may not all be up to what the steelers or the fans want. he will be a free agent after this year and we may get no more than a comp pick. he may want to move to a contender. we surely haven't gotten over the hump with him, nor have the steelers for him. the franchise tag players don't like if they have to use that. it may come down to nothing more than him wanting a chance at a ring. he's made a lot of money up until now. how will you feel if he moves on and we end up with a 3rd or 4th round pick down the road?

 

I’d hang onto Watt barring an extraordinary offer, which we wont get.

Minkah, for a 2nd or 3rd. He’s probably past his prime. And to think we gave up our 1st to Miami in 2020 for a few years of admittedly great play at safety but i would rather used that pick to get Jordan Love or traded up to get Justin Herbet.

 

Do we want the Steelers to overpay Watt ---Like I say how much is he worth ----Did he win us any championships----Yes, he is a fan favorite but so was Ward --what happened there---I don't know what they want to do with him --- I'm just tired of living in Pittsburgh sports HELL as Joe Starkey and the fan team said--we need to win.

 

I am baffled by some people on here thinking Minkah has regressed as a player. Minkah was being used as a true Free Safety last year and at times he was twenty yards off the ball as the last line of defense. He wasn’t making splash plays because there weren’t many to make. Teams were not throwing deep on us over the middle of the field, at least when Minkah was lined up deep. The issue was Minkah was a wasted talent last year. If your gonna play schematically like that and take one of your best players out of the play to prevent the deep ball then at least put a less talented safety back there to do that. Minkah started pressing and playing mistake prone football later on in the year to overcompensate for some players like Sutton who weren’t playing well and also I believe because he wanted to get involve in the defense.

The only thing that would effect Mink’s trade value is his salary. I still believe we could get 2nd round pick for him with the right team. The bigger issue is safety isn’t as highly prized from a salary standpoint for most teams.

Watt is still Watt however yes he has had some injuries of late to close out the year but alot of them were freak incidents so I am not worried about his health. I believe Watt could get a 1st a 3rd and a player or this years 2nd and 3rd and next years 1st.

To me the only reason you trade Watt is because you are committing to a rebuild. That means your trading him more for draft picks next year when the QB class is supposedly better. In addition you also are not signing Aaron Rodgers because what is the point. If they did trade Watt this year then I would try to trade Minkah and Pickens as well to try to maximize the draft capital for next year and start a legit rebuild process this year starting in this draft.

 

Fair enough, but I saw recently somebody posted Watt's career playoff stats and he only has 6 tackles and 1 sack 1 fumble recovery.

 

Steelers should be offloading Minka hopefully to a
contender where he may play for a championship. A true well run
FO would make this happen this up coming draft.

 

Is retiring a Steeler more important than winning a SB?

 

Hell no. I'd just like to see it in today's sport world where no one stays with the same team. At this point TJ might get us a draft pick from another team. Zero guarantee in the draft regardless when player is picked.