The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a busy offseason in 2026 as the franchise has had a ton on its plate. There was first the task of hiring a new head coach and then filling out the coaching staff, and then General Manager Omar Khan had to figure out how to improve the team from what was seen on the field in 2025. Once free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft were through, it was the business of extending some players that were coming up on the final year of their deal. Chris Boswell and Cam Heyward were each extended, as were Nick Herbig and Darnell Washington.
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Steelers General Manager Omar Khan during the team's 2025 training camp in Latrobe, PA.
Another extension that is in the works is with cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Porter is expected to earn an extension that will place him near the top of the cornerback market, and that is absolutely what he deserves. In order to make the financial side of the things work out, the organization is going to have to restructure some deals that are currently on the books. One of the prime candidates to be restructured is star outside linebacker TJ Watt.
Beat writer Mark Kaboly mentioned this during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan on Monday morning, and he also mentioned that a move like this would make it more difficult to move on from Watt's contract via trade.
"I mean there's a lot of dead money, and there's going to be even more dead money when they restructure him coming up here in another month or so," Kaboly said. "Going to be mid-50s. They have to restructure Watt, they can get a bunch of money. They're going to need money to give JPJ, right? Plus they have to pay the practice squad guys and all of the ancillary stuff. You can always create money. You can absolutely assure that he is going to get restructured here in the next month before they do Porter. Which leaves him pretty much hard to move next year."
Watt signed a three-year extension prior to the 2025 season that was worth a total of $123 million with $108 million guaranteed. That extension kicks in during the 2026 season, and Watt carries a cap hit of $42 million in each of the next two seasons. Restructuring his deal would basically take some of his cap hit from this season and move it to the next, creating more immediate cap space for Pittsburgh currently.
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Steelers pass rusher TJ Watt talks with long-time defensive leader Cameron Heyward as the two enjoy a day off during a 2025 training camp practice at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA.
The issue with this is that Watt is coming off of a down season, and the contract was already viewed as bad value for the franchise to begin with. If Watt is moved on from next offseason there is currently a dead cap charge of $94 million, and that number would only rise with a restructure. This means he would be nearly impossible to trade if that is something that the Steelers would want to do.
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The bad contract that was given to Watt, and the poor value of the deal all around would be talked about way more if it was actually creating issues for the Steelers elsewhere. The team has no franchise quarterback to pay, so this is a non-issue. It isn't great, but there isn't really any consequences that come with it. A lot of quarterbacks across the NFL are making more than $50 million per year, and that is not something the Steelers have had to worry about navigating as of late.
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Steelers' TJ Watt and Keeanu Benton celebrate after a big play during a regular season game in 2025 against the Bengals.
The current dead cap charge for Watt makes him impossible to move on from, and it is only going to grow. Hopefully the former Defensive Player Of The Year can return to some version of his old self.
What do you think about the Steelers restructuring Watt's deal soon? Let me know on X, @brogannoey!
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