Art Rooney II: Steelers will do 'everything we can' to sign T.J. Watt to long-term deal

To keep some players from hitting free agency while remaining compliant with the salary cap, the Pittsburgh Steelers have gotten creative with their contract structuring, implementing deals that include voidable years.

It’s not the avenue the organization will take when they try to re-sign Pro Bowl outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who is scheduled to hit free agency after the 2021 season. But team president Art Rooney II, to no surprise, said the Steelers will pull out all the stops to keep the NFL Defensive Player of the Year runner-up around for future seasons.

In a Steelers Nation Unite huddle chat with fans Thursday, Rooney II was asked about the importance of keeping Watt after his contract ends.

“We’re certainly going to try,” Rooney II said. “We certainly look at T.J. as a key player in the future. I can assure you we’ll do everything we can to keep T.J. on our roster beyond this year. That’s the goal.”

Watt will earn $10.089 million this season under the fifth-year option that was exercised last offseason. The Steelers like to sign core players that are a year away from free agency to long-term deals before the regular-season begins. Those talks typically take place in the summer or during training camp.

In the 20-minute chat, Rooney fielded 15 questions and addressed the return of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on one-year deals that included voidable years to lower the salary-cap numbers for 2021. Roethlisberger agreed to a $5 million pay cut, and Smith-Schuster signed a one-year contract worth $8 million, which was lower than comparable receivers received in free agency.

“We wanted Ben back,” Rooney II said. “The key to it really was to be able to restructure his contract in a way that allowed us to keep Ben and allowed us to sign some other players. Ben cooperated with that and was willing to make changes to his contract. That allowed us to keep him on the team this year, which always was our goal.”

While Roethlisberger’s play — much like the team’s — declined after an 11-0 start, Rooney II was impressed by the way the quarterback rebounded from right-elbow surgery in which three torn tendons were repaired.

Roethlisberger’s 33 touchdown passes were the second-most of his career, and his 10 interceptions were his fewest in a full season since 2014.

“I thought Ben had a very good year for somebody coming off arm surgery,” Rooney said. “Hopefully, he’ll have an even better year with another year under his belt in terms of recovery from arm surgery.”

Smith-Schuster had 97 receptions last year, but he averaged a career-low 8.6 yards per catch. He returned to the Steelers on the third official day of free agency after reportedly weighing offers from Baltimore and Kansas City.

“JuJu was an important part of our offense last year and has been for the last few years,” Rooney said. “We were certainly hopeful we would be able to sign JuJu back. You never know when you have a free agent how it is going to go. One thing about JuJu is he really wanted to come back. That certainly helped a lot.”

Among other topics Rooney II addressed:

• He reiterated the importance of the Steelers improving a running game that ranked No. 32 in the NFL.

“We don’t want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers last in the league in rushing ever again,” he said. “It’s something our coaches are focused on, and we are looking for ways to improve in the draft. It’s something we have to fix, and we’re working on it.”

• NFL owners still have to vote on approving a 17th regular-season game, but Rooney talked like it is a done deal.

“This year will be the first year for it, so we’ll get a chance to see how it goes,” he said. “It will be a similar kind of schedule by terms of the calendar, but would turn one preseason game into a regular-season game. I think we all will appreciate that.”

• He expects normal crowd sizes at Heinz Field in 2021 after the Steelers played more than half of their home games last season without fans because of the pandemic.

“I’m optimistic we’ll have fans, and I’m optimistic we’ll have a full stadium this fall,” he said.

He is likewise hopeful the Steelers can resume holding training camp at Saint Vincent after a one-year absence.

“It’s something we’re planning for now. We’ll see how things go,” he said. “We need this virus thing to turn the corner, and we still want to make sure fans are safe when they come to Saint Vincent. We may have to look at if we have to limit the number of fans. We’ll be looking at all those issues.”