Joe Starkey says the Steelers should trade T.J. Watt and use the move to accelerate a rebuild around Nick Herbig. He argued that Watt still has value to another team, but said Pittsburgh should be willing to listen if the right offer comes in.
The comments surfaced in a weekly TribLIVE Mailbag, where Starkey said the Steelers should have moved Watt long before now in the name of rebuilding. He said Watt, even with a new contract attached, would remain a desirable piece for a club looking to contend, and named Philadelphia, Dallas, the Giants and the Buffalo Bills as teams the Steelers should hear out if they called.
Starkey tied that view to Watt’s production in what he called a down year: seven sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, one interception, eight defended passes, 10 tackles for loss, 27 quarterback pressures and 19 quarterback hits. Even with those numbers, he said Pittsburgh could still fetch a first-round pick, though he stressed the Steelers would not get the kind of package Cleveland got for Myles Garrett, which included a first-round pick, a really good young player and two other picks.
That is where the money sits in the argument. Starkey said the Steelers should prioritize Herbig, whom he views as a star in the making, and would rather pay him than keep Watt on the books at his current cost. “At this point, though, to get the contract off the books, pay Herbig and have another first-round pick? Yes, sign me up,” he said.
There is a catch in that logic that keeps the discussion from being tidy. Starkey is not claiming Watt has lost his value; he is saying the opposite. His case is that a player can still be attractive to another contender while also being the kind of veteran asset a rebuilding team moves before the market cools, which is why he said the Steelers should have acted earlier if they were serious about a reset.
The same mailbag also drifted into a separate roster question, with Starkey listing eight players he would protect in an expansion draft: Troy Fautanu, Herbig, Alex Highsmith, Derrick Harmon, Zach Frazier, Max Iheanachor, Joey Porter Jr. and Chris Boswell. On Boswell, Starkey said he loves automatic field goals all the time and called him one of the top five kickers in NFL history, a reminder that his roster priorities are not limited to edge rushers.
Whether Pittsburgh ever gets a real trade call for Watt remains the open question. Starkey made clear he would listen for a first-round pick, but the larger decision now is whether the Steelers want to keep treating Watt as the center of their defense or use his value to speed up a roster turn that already has Herbig in the middle of it.
