Steelers Are Lying About Trading T.J. Watt, Hints Mike Florio originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Pittsburgh Steelers position on opting to dump unhappy superstar pass-rusher T.J. Watt in a trade seems pretty clear to us.
The work needs to be done regarding Watt’s desire for a lucrative contract extension… maybe a desire as grand as $40 million per year.
The Steelers are making it perfectly clear that while they might not like the “$40 million” part, they agree with where the efforts need to point.
“(Expletive) no” was the answer coming out of the building earlier this week on the subject of a blockbuster trade-away of Watt.
And now Steelers team insider Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is echoing that, as during a Tuesday appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show” he used a pair of forceful three-word phrases to state the club’s position.
Pittsburgh trading Watt isn’t “on the radar,” he asserted.
A trade is “not gonna happen,” he added.
Dulac also added a timetable to the proceedings, saying he believes Watt will sign an extension “sometime between” the Steelers’ preseason finale at the Carolina Panthers (that game is on Aug. 21) and Pittsburgh’s Week 1 regular-season matchup at the New York Jets (that game is on Sept. 7).
“The Steelers want to and believe they will sign T.J. Watt,” Dulac said.
Dulac is plugged-in and on the beat.
Yet… now along comes Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, who has a habit of offering unwanted advice to teams and players and non-sourced info to his audience.
And Florio isn’t just failing to buy what the Steelers (and reputable Pittsburgh media people) are saying.
He’s sort of calling them liars.
“NFL Media pushed the idea that they have no intention to trade T.J. Watt, which is often the precursor to a trade,” Florio claimed during a Wednesday appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan.
Florio is right about how real teams and real reporters choose their words wisely – and the reason is not because “everybody is a liar.”
This is a never-say-never league. Most trained and experienced reporters recognize that and therefore wisely leave ajar the door in the event of change.
That’s an ancient art now in the world of clickbait journalism, where headlines must be forceful and loud and definitive … even if the reporter’s information isn’t definitive at all.
There is no reason to think the Pittsburgh media is fibbing about what its been told and there is no reason to think the Steelers are covering up some secret plot to trade one of their all-time greatest players.
If this thing blows up, that will be driven by a number of factors.
But a deceitful conspiracy won’t likely be one of them.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 5, 2025, where it first appeared.