Jason McIntyre thinks Steelers should trade T.J. Watt to turn around the franchise

You make a point but if traded we hope they don't see it that way Actually at age 30 and how frigging hard he has played during his career I doubt any NFL team would give a first round pick for him. Now he is 23 and on the block they'd all come calling.

 

Great thread so far, probably because it's pretty much split down the middle on TJ, but that's what makes it so interesting

 

Not saying you're wrong, it was terrible bad luck that TJ went down at such a crucial time for the Steelers, but sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

 

As great Watt is,I don't think he will be as great as he is right now in 3-5 years....Do you think the steelers can compete for a super bowl in the next 3 years if our offense is below average again this year?.....If the answer is no,the steelers need to look at all of the options

 

The chance to win a playoff game on the road with Rudolph vs Josh Allen was very low,no matter what...It would take a true miracle

 

Not really, they were very much in that game until the bitter end. Maybe TJ would've made the difference, maybe not. Guess we'll never know

 

The steelers never had the ball on offense in a one possession game after the first quarter... It would have taken a defensive TD or something like that to have a chance and true that the chances happen with Watt would have been much better but it's hard to win on the road against a very good team with only 17 points on offense

True I was wrong to say that it would take a miracle but I still wouldn't have liked the chances

 

&0’s Steelers is what I grew up on. I love defense. My favorite Steeler all time was Greg Lloyd. Its unfortunate but I just don’t get my hopes up anymore with great defense. The NFL has taken that away from us. As a football purist it is diificult to watch todays NFL. The NFL is all about money and expanding the fanbase. They won’t be happy until we have a 20 game regular season and the game is on somewhere every day during the week. These casual Taylor Swift fans they now cater too and their over saturation of the league and trying to legislate injury out of the game is gong to be the demise of the sport. It will never die like boxing because it is too massive and it is literally an institution with the support of a massive feeder system such as college and high school. Its built into the fabric of traction in this country. Its just unfortunate that wokeness, politics and greed are ruining it.

 

Not if your one player away at that particular position. Obviously he is still valuable but if half the sacks result in a penalty then his value becomes depleted in todays NFL through no fault of his own. Your sarcasm is evident you twisted what I was saying. It isn’t a mark against watt at all its about how the NFL has changed and in particular the rules and officiating. They just introduced yet another rule this year where QB’s can now intentionally ground the ball if under pressure with no penalty. It’s just getting ridiculous. Years ago you never saw this many prima donna receivers because the defenses didn’t allow them to get that way. They would knock the sh*%$ out of them before letting that happen. The intimidation factor is completely gone from the game. It’s become like a fast break in basketball. I miss the Greg Lloyds, the James Harrisons and the Hines Wards of yesteryear.

 

Don’t be madd at me for stating the truth about how the game is today. Be mad at the NFL. I am just stating the obvious. I don’t like it either. I love low scoring defensive battles and ground and pound football. That isn’t a reality anymore and it never will be, at least not consistently over an 17 game season.

 

Nobody is giving up that much for Watt at this stage I don’t think

And this team doesn’t need a rebuild it needs a QB

The Steelers are doing exactly what they should be doing with the draft and the roster now has a lot of young talent.

The QB is the glaring gap in the roster. It if a high level QB becomes available at any point they now have the cap space to pursue them. If that happens you want TJ leading the defence

Cousins was available this offseason and there is a good possibility Dak will be on the market next offseason. I do t think either of those guys are tier 1 but the Steelers can win with that type of QB and would probably be favourites for the division

Trading TJ might get you a first from a championship chasing team but there is no guarantee the player you select with that pick is any good, and virtually no chance they are as good as TJ

 

My question to you is, how do you know this (which nobody truly knows)... without knowing what we get in return?

Here's another thing that needs to be said, at least from my perspective, if this were to be a deal the Steelers would have to get (at least) two current players from another team (not draft picks). And, they would have to address current needs (OL, QB, WR, etc). The "worth" of a trade is unpredictable. Any trade can go south! But continuing to try and win with this current formula, is not working and the biggest commodity the Steelers have is TJ. The other side of this how many more healthy years does he have? It aint 3, so, damned if you do/don't!

 

of course some a-hole would want us to trade Watt an elite player who we need so much f-u go find your own TJ he is ours

 

Back to back sacks then, a fumble recovery. Nope! Don't need defense anymore!

 

Dump Popcorn. Keep Watt.

Watt should be a Steeler for life.

A change at HC would do much more for the franchise than trading our best defensive player.

 

The last two weeks don’t count. This team is going to the superbowl!

 

So now it is TJs fault we are 500+1or2? I have no idea what I am missing here. Apparently, HC takes no responsibility for poor performances but gets all and I mean all the credit when they win.

 

Dude I love defensive football. The problem is on a consistent basis over the course of a 17 game season the offense always , always wins out on the penalty side now. The rules and referees are completely one sided when it comes to officiating a game. Maybe they will change but at least the last few years it certainly hasn’t trended that way. My point is if they aren’t going to let you play defense anymore then why even invest in it.