We thought we had recently reached the peak of the offseason when former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum suggested the Pittsburgh Steelers trade quarterback Russell Wilson to the Minnesota Vikings and then sign quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Well, we were wrong. We’re now in the offseason, as Colin Cowherd’s little buddy Jason McIntyre suggested Friday that Pittsburgh should trade its best player, TJ Watt, to get the franchise back on track.
After comparing the Steelers to Intel’s failed entry into the smartphone market years ago, McIntyre explains why Pittsburgh should trade away its best player.
“If you want to change something in Pittsburgh – and there’s no end in sight with the team structure – you don’t have a quarterback for the future. Neither quarterback has signed a contract beyond this year. That’s a radical idea. Sometimes you have to be radical,” McIntyre said.
“I think you need to put TJ Watt on the trade list… Three-time Defensive Player of the Year, 29 years old, turning 30 soon. And I know he’s the most popular Steeler… TJ Watt can do it all. He’s unbelievable. So why the hell would you trade him away? You trade away our best defensive player?
“Because it’s not a defensive league! I gave you the numbers yesterday. In every playoff game they’ve played in over the last six years and lost, they’ve given up 30, 40 points. So what’s the point of building your team around defense?”
.@jasonrmcintyre says the Steelers should trade TJ Watt to turn the franchise around 👀 pic.twitter.com/1fXKAD9Whx
— Herd with Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) 23 August 2024
There are a few things wrong with McIntyre’s rant. The first is the fact that Watt is not a three-time Defensive Player of the Year. Unfortunately for him, McIntyre Googled the wrong Watt brother.
The goal in trading Watt, of course, would be to get a high draft pick to aid the process of moving up a quarterback in 2025 if Pittsburgh isn’t in a good enough position to grab one of the top options.
The problem is that Watt would only be considered for contenders, meaning that even if the Steelers got multiple first-round picks, they would be drafting late in the round, which would hardly help Pittsburgh’s cause.
Trading Watt only makes sense if the Steelers are planning a complete rebuild, but they aren’t there yet. They’re coming off a 10-win season in which they somehow made the playoffs despite a terrible quarterback situation.
It’s not entirely unreasonable to assume that the Steelers can make a splash in 2024 if Wilson or Justin Fields prove to be a small improvement over Pittsburgh’s quarterback position in 2023.
Why? Because of their defense, led by TJ Watt.
