Apr 18 2025 15 mins
Welcome to Steelers Morning Rush, our new daily short-form podcast with Alan Saunders, giving a longer perspective on a single news topic surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers or the National Football League. Today, it's the idea that the Steelers are waiting to resolve things with free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers before they negotiate a contract extension for star outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
Watt brought the topic of his contract extension into the forefront with his curious social media post, but in reality, the Steelers do not generally talk contact extensions with current players until later in the summer. They deal with trying to re-sign players before they hit free agency, then talk to free agents, then deal with the draft, wrap up second-wave free agency in May, and then deal with their own players in the summer.
That's the way they've always done business, and while part of the idea behind Watt's post might have been to develop a sense of urgency with his process, the Steelers not wanting to talk turkey with their defensive star doesn't have anything to do with Rodgers.
The Steelers have plenty plenty of salary cap space available to sign Rodgers right now -- well over $30 million -- and they can painlessly make plenty of more with a couple of restructures. That's more than enough money to sign Rodgers now.
A new deal with Watt is likely to reduce his 2025 salary cap hit, and could reduce it substantially, so the cap is not at all standing in the way of the Steelers doing business with both Rodgers and Watt. Alan breaks it down.
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