Never forget how much Cowboys screwed up by passing on T.J. Watt

The Dallas Cowboys were close to drafting now-Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker T.J. Watt, and the ‘what ifs’ will haunt them forever. 

When Dallas Cowboys’ owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones closes his eyes to go to sleep at night, the face of Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker T.J. Watt must haunt his nightmares. The highest paid defensive player in the NFL was almost a Cowboy.

On Thursday afternoon, T.J. Watt signed a four-year, $112 million contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. At that time, Dallas was preparing to kickoff the 2021 NFL regular season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football. The Cowboys lost in a close game, 31-29, but man, could they have used a player like Watt.

Watt was drafted No. 30 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, two picks after Dallas selected Taco Charlton out of Michigan. Charlton, who is currently a free agent, has a total of 11 sacks during his professional career. Four of those sacks came from his first two seasons with the Cowboys. Meanwhile, Watt has enjoyed double-digit sacks (13, 14.5, 15) the past three seasons.

Dallas missed out on the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL

Last year, Pittsburgh had the best defense in the league even after losing linebackers Devin Bush and Bud Dupree to season-ending injuries. Why? T.J. Watt. How did Dallas perform last year defensively? To put it simply – bad. Not only did the Cowboys allow the most points (473) in franchise history, but also the second-most rushing yards (2,541). 

Dallas couldn’t get through to Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady on Thursday night. It’s almost as if they were missing a franchise player like Pittsburgh has in Watt.

Maybe in 2017 the Cowboys were being financially smart and thinking of the money that they could save by skipping over T.J. Watt. Yeah, we’ll go with that.