Steelers almost had a full-blown family reunion in Pittsburgh

J.J. Watt nearly signed up to play with his two younger brothers Derek and T.J. on the Pittsburgh Steelers two offseasons ago.

While future first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer J.J. Watt is about to embark on what should be a fantastic media career with CBS, he admitted he nearly reunited with his two younger brothers on the Pittsburgh Steelers a few years back.

The former Houston Texans superstar defensive linemen spent the last two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. Houston was going nowhere fast. Watt admitted to Chris and Kyle Long on Green Light with Chris Long that he heavily considered going to the Steelers to play with Derek and T.J. Watt, as opposed to heading to The Valley of the Sun in 2021. Three Watt Brothers, oh my!

Here is what Watt admitted to the Long Brothers about nearly going to the Steelers back in 2021.

"“[The Steelers] were [on the list]. It certainly would have been awesome to play with my brothers, but T.J. was also going through the contract situation there, so the last thing I wanted to do was come in and take any money away from his contract.”"

Here is the entire episode of Green Light with Chris Long in which Watt appears to talk some shop.

Apparently, T.J. Watt’s contract situation was a major contributing factor in him not signing there.

J.J. Watt admitted to nearly joining his two brothers on the Pittsburgh Steelers

A Watt Family Reunion at The Confluence would have been Yinzer fever dream, or the best thing to ever happen to Wisconsin Badgers football at the NFL level. I’m mostly joking about those two points, but come on! It would have been so awesome, dude! Regardless, Watt got to experience the good, bad and ugly with the two NFL franchises he played for during his illustrious pro career.

Watt was huge part of the Texans’ turnaround under former head coach Bill O’Brien. Although they never made it past the divisional round of the AFC playoffs, that was during the same time when Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were running train over the rest of the AFC. What is now The Arrowhead Invitational used to be known as The Foxborough Invitational at One Patriot Place.

Overall, we can think about all the things that could have been for the rest of time, but what good would that do any of us? Yes, it would have been awesome to see all three Watts doing what they do on the gridiron for the same team. Unfortunately, the results would have been the same for the Steelers because there were going through a transitional period at the quarterback position then.

Ultimately, I think T.J. Watt’s contract dispute with the Steelers’ brass was probably a good thing. He got the deal he wanted, but if it cost him a chance at playing with his big brother, so what? T.J. Watt may get to be a teammate with his older brother J.J. at the end of the day should he too earn eventual Canton enshrinement. How the next five seasons go for him should tell the tale of that.

Regardless, Steelers fans should be thankful that they have the youngest Watt starring for them.