What Steelers reportedly were not 'anticipating' with T.J. Watt contract saga

The Pittsburgh Steelers reportedly aren't close to signing star pass-rusher T.J. Watt to a contract extension after he stayed away from the team through its mandatory minicamp that wrapped up on June 12. 

During a Thursday appearance on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Sports Radio, Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor of ESPN suggested that the club is a bit surprised about how much of a pay raise Watt wants while in the final year of his existing contract.

"I think what they were not anticipating is how serious T.J. Watt is about being at the top of the market," Pryor explained, as shared by Matthew Marczi of Steelers Depot. "And I think at that point, too, they weren't necessarily anticipating Myles Garrett (of the Cleveland Browns) resetting the market in such a big way."

Pryor was referencing how Garrett accepted a four-year, $160M deal that included $123.5M guaranteed earlier this offseason after he requested to be traded. There's no indication the Steelers would even consider making Watt available to other teams after they signed 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers to be their 2025 Week 1 starting quarterback. That said, Watt could become even more expensive for Pittsburgh depending on when Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys puts pen to paper on his expected extension. 

Parsons turned 26 years old earlier this spring, while Watt will be 31 years old by the end of October. 

"I was not surprised that he was not at minicamp," Pryor added about Watt during her update. "No one in the building was surprised that he was not at minicamp. If there is an element of surprise here, it dates back to earlier this offseason when I was having conversations with people in the building who kind of said, 'We thought this T.J. Watt deal would be easier to get done because it's a no-brainer. We want him here. He wants to be here.'"

Per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Thursday he's "optimistic" a deal with Watt will get done, "because we got two sides that want to get things done." That's all well and good, but it remains to be seen what Watt will do if he doesn't receive an extension to his liking before Pittsburgh players are due to report for training camp next month.