CLEVELAND, Ohio — J.J. Watt has discovered that choosing a new team is not an exact science.
Watt, who threw the Twitter world into a frenzy on Tuesday when he cryptically tweeted “Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,’’ has made progress in narrowing his options, but ‘nothing is imminent’ according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
As of Sunday, the Browns were still in the mix because they have a lot of things Watt is looking for, including Super Bowl potential, a good quarterback, a good supporting cast and money, a league source told Cleveland.com.
Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh tweeted on Wednesday that John Clayton of 710 ESPN in Seattle said on Fillipponi’s show that Watt ‘won’t be coming to Pittsburgh’ and that Tennessee, Green Bay and Buffalo are the three teams in the mix. He also said the Raiders are the dark horse.
Clayton later clarified in a tweet that Tennessee, Green Bay and Buffalo are the frontrunners, but that the Browns and Raiders are still in it. The report also differs from one by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who said the Packers won’t sign Watt because they don’t have the cap space.
Of the teams most linked with Watt so far, the Browns are 14th in the NFL with $27.66 million in cap space for their top 51 players, according to spotrac.com, the Bills are 20th with $4.5 million, the Titans are 21st with $2.30 million, the Packers are 25th at $4.5 million over the cap, and the Steelers are $6.029 million over the cap.
The Steelers could be clearing plenty of cap space soon when they re-do Ben Roethlisberger’s contract, which team president Art Rooney II said in a statement on Tuesday is the ‘next step’ in the process of him being back as their starter for 2021.
Roethlisberger, who’s due a roster bonus of $15 million on March 19, is set to make $19 million in 2021, but has a cap hit of $41.25 million. If the two sides agree on a restructure, which Roethlisberger has said he’s willing to do, the Steelers will have an opportunity to bolster his supporting cast with some new linemen and perhaps a new running back.
It doesn’t mean, however, that they’d be able to afford the older brother of T.J. and Derek Watt, who could make anywhere from $12.5 million a year to $17.5 million a year depending on the length and structure of the deal.
The Browns must contend with Big Ben in ‘21 afterall
Teams are currently in the process of releasing players and restructuring contracts to get under the cap, which is expected to come in somewhere around $185 million by the time the league year begins on March 17th. The cap floor was increased last week from $175 million to $180 million.
If the Browns don’t sign Watt, they’ll consider other top pass-rushers such as Von Miller
If the Browns don’t land Watt, they’ll consider other top pass-rushers such as Von Miller, Carl Lawson, Trey Hendrickson, Leonard Williams and Haason Reddick to replace Olivier Vernon, who finished with nine sacks last season before suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in the season finale.
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