The Pittsburgh Steelers aren't trading edge rusher T.J. Watt for a quarterback, for multiple obvious reasons.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will spend a (perhaps small) portion of the offseason looking for their next quarterback. Russell Wilson or Justin Fields could return, but the rest of the free agent class doesn’t scream “special,” and the 2025 NFL Draft isn’t special.
Thus, the Steelers might feel the walls closing in. The core is aging, the window is shutting, and at some point, Pittsburgh’s struggles to compete in January might prove to be unsustainable, coming increasingly closer to truly bottoming out.
That lends itself to creative solutions and, sometimes, worrying hypotheticals.
The Steelers lost T.J. Watt in a brutal ESPN trade rumor from Unsportsmanlike, which may not be realistic but does help shape the perception of desperation under center.
“I could come up with some teams that we don’t think are gonna be very good and maybe go all in for their quarterbacks, but then you’re gonna be like, okay, why are they gonna give up that quarterback?” Evan Cohen said. “Unless you’re gonna trade T.J. Watt to the Vikings for J.J. McCarthy. That’s actually an interesting trade now that I just think about that. Totally outta left field that I just made that up…I like that trade a lot now that I think about it.”
The rumors were fun for a while, but it’s abundantly clear that Minnesota isn’t trading McCarthy. The Vikings are just a year removed from trading up for him in Round 1. They were happy with what he showed before his injury, and by all accounts he’s tracking well to be ready for the 2025 season. The organization feels he can be a franchise quarterback … that takes him off the trade block completely.
Further, Sam Darnold is much more of a target given his proximity to free agency. It might be a multi-year deal, and there could be a bidding war, but it seems like he won’t get the franchise tag, thus becoming available. Minnesota chose McCarthy over Darnold, as it was always going to. And if the Vikings were rolling the dice by trading him, it probably wouldn’t be for Watt anyway.
The edge rusher hasn’t given any indication that he wants out, and as the linchpin of Pittsburgh’s defense, its competitive aspirations rely on him providing double-digit sacks. At the very least, his contributions have earned him the right to end his Steelers career on his terms.
There’s an argument that trading for McCarthy would help Pittsburgh reload and set up a path to sustainable success. For the same reasons, the Vikings aren’t even picking up the phone.
