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First Call: J.J. Watt nixes talk of being a Steeler; team signs top XFL corner, considers former Pro Bowl LB | TribLIVE.com
Steelers/NFL

First Call: J.J. Watt nixes talk of being a Steeler; team signs top XFL corner, considers former Pro Bowl LB

Tim Benz
Tim Benz

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Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt waves Jan. 8 after a game against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif.

Tuesday’s “First Call” is loaded with Steelers nuggets, including J.J. Watt’s statement on the notion of him playing in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers are also signing an XFL star cornerback, while considering a former Pro Bowl linebacker.

Plus, there is more college realignment news, and Major League Baseball’s best were sparkling Monday night.

J.J. says, ‘No way’

Conversation popped up this offseason about the prospect of J.J. Watt reneging on his retirement and playing for the Steelers in 2023. On Monday, though, he made it clear on Barstool’s “Pardon My Take” podcast that the potential partnership with his brother, T.J., won’t be happening.

“No. I will not be playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Watt declared. “I will be going to a game at (Acrisure Stadium) to watch my brother play. … The Steelers fans are really one of the best fan bases I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Everywhere I go, ‘Hey I love you, but I’m a huge Steelers fan, so I love your brother. Hey, come to the Steelers.’”

But Watt said he is going to stay retired because he hasn’t been working out and his body couldn’t handle the rigors of an NFL game. Although, he admits considering one long shot prospect for a return.

“Week 17. $10 million. That’s still on the table,” Watt said.

Hmm. I’m not sure Omar Khan could figure out a way to make that work for the Steelers underneath the NFL salary cap. But, theoretically, I like the idea.

One more name in the mix

The Steelers are continuing to throw numbers at the inside linebacker position, if not big dollars.

After sitting out the first wave of expensive (but not all that expensive) inside linebackers in free agency this offseason, the Steelers ended up signing Elandon Roberts, Cole Holcomb and Tanner Muse.

Now the word is they are considering former New York Jet Kwon Alexander as well. That’s according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who claims Alexander was planning to visit the Steelers on Monday night.

Alexander was drafted out of LSU by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2015 draft. He made the All-Rookie team and a Pro Bowl with them in 2017. In March 2019, the San Francisco 49ers signed Alexander to a four-year, $54 million contract ($27 million guaranteed).

Since then, he has also played for the New Orleans Saints and most recently with the New York Jets. Injuries have been a problem for Alexander. He suffered a torn ACL in 2018, a torn pectoral muscle in 2019, a torn Achilles in 2020 and an elbow injury in 2021.

Last year, he played a full season with the Jets, a first for him since 2016.

More sports

• Reports: Mason Rudolph to visit Steelers, could sign on as No. 3 quarterback
• Former Pitt, WPIAL hoops star Cam Johnson using NBA platform, family motivation in Rush to Crush Cancer
• After throwing 16 scoreless innings, Pirates' Mitch Keller honored as NL Player of the Week

Another candidate

The Steelers continue to dabble in the XFL market. At rookie minicamp, they welcomed St. Louis Battlehawks wide receiver Hakeem Butler and San Antonio Brahmas offensive tackle Chidi Okeke.

Now they have signed cornerback Luq Barcoo. That’s according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler.

Like Okeke, Barcoo played with the Brahmas. That’s the team ex-Steelers great Hines Ward coaches. He made the All-XFL team this year.

At 6-foot-1, 181 pounds, Barcoo has decent size. He used to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was also on practice squads of the Cardinals, 49ers, Chiefs and Jets. In his NFL career, Barcoo has 10 total career tackles.

He went undrafted out of San Diego State in 2020 before becoming a rookie free agent with the Jags. In 2019, he led the NCAA in interceptions, passes defended and pass breakups.

More to come?

Sports Illustrated is reporting that half of the ACC’s schools are considering a split away from the conference.

Via SI’s Ross Dellinger, “More frank discussions are expected about the growing revenue gap between (the ACC) and the SEC/Big Ten. Handcuffed by an ESPN broadcasting contract and grant-of-rights that extends another 13 years, ACC schools could find themselves more than $30 million behind the SEC and Big Ten in annual distribution by the time 2026 arrives. … A subset of seven schools in the 14-member conference has coalesced over what many of them describe as an untenable situation. Officials from the seven schools, led by Florida State and Clemson, have met a handful of times over the past several months, with their lawyers examining the grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is.”

The ActionNetwork’s Brett McMurphy says the other schools are Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

What does that mean for Pitt? Who knows? Join the Big XII? Beg to get in the Big Ten? Try to regenerate the Big East with Louisville, Syracuse and Boston College, while pleading with Notre Dame to play the role as a merciful quasi-independent partner?

Your guess is as good as mine. I just know that, conceptually, there is no concept of college football conferences anymore. And it makes the rest of conference boundaries for other sports completely stupid.

Boston College-Texas Tech as football “conference rivals” is as dumb as Northwestern-UCLA as basketball rivals. How about we let the SEC, Big Ten and Notre Dame do their own thing with everybody else having open scheduling, and we’ll all see each other in the college football playoff?

With the postseason expanding too, why not? Drop the outdated notion of conferences and be done with it.

Stars, in their multitude …

As the Pirates sat idle Monday, Major League Baseball’s two brightest stars were shining bright.

New York Yankees outfield Aaron Judge hit two home runs Monday. He helped power the Bronx Bombers to a 7-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

The second homer was an absolute bomb.

Judge is now just one homer off the American League lead behind Rafael Devers (Bost.), Brent Rooker (Oak.) and Luis Robert (CWS).

Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani nearly made some more history Monday night during a 9-5 win in Baltimore. He homered en route to a 4-for-5 night at the plate.

Ohtani also tripled and singled. So he was a double away from the cycle, while also winning the game as the starting pitcher. Had Ohtani gotten a double to nail the cycle, he would’ve been the first starting pitcher to hit for the cycle in Major League Baseball history.

Short of that, he became the first starting pitcher to reach base five times as a pitcher since the New York Yankees’ Mel Stottlemyre against the Washington Senators on Sept. 26, 1964.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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