We thought we had hit peak offseason recently when former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum suggested the Pittsburgh Steelers trade quarterback Russell Wilson to the Minnesota Vikings and then sign quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Well, we were wrong. We have now hit peak offseason when Colin Cowherd's little buddy, Jason McIntyre, suggested on Friday that Pittsburgh trade its best player, T.J. Watt, in order to turn the franchise around.
After comparing the Steelers to Intel's failure to get into smartphones years back, McIntyre explains why Pittsburgh should trade off its best player.
"If you wanna turn things around in Pittsburgh — and there is no end in sight the way this team is built, you have no quarterback for the future. Neither quarterback signed beyond this year. Here's a radical idea. Sometimes you need to get radical," McIntyre said.
"I think you gotta put T.J. Watt on the trading block... Three-time Defensive Player of the Year, 29 years old, gonna turn 30 soon. And I know he is the most popular Steeler.... T.J. Watt can do it all. He is tremendous. So why the hell would you trade him? You're trading our best defensive player?
"Because it's not a defensive league! I gave you guys the numbers yesterday. Every playoff game that they've been to and gotten smashed in the last six years, they're giving up 30, 40 points. So what's the point of being build around defense?"
.@jasonrmcintyre says the Steelers should trade T.J. Watt to turn around the franchise 👀 pic.twitter.com/1fXKAD9Whx
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) August 23, 2024
There are a few things wrong with McIntyre's rant here, the first of which is the fact that Watt is not a three-time Defensive Player of the Year. Unfortunately for him, McIntyre Googled the wrong Watt brother.
Obviously, the goal in trading Watt would be to get a high draft pick in order to help in the process of trying to move up for a quarterback in 2025 if Pittsburgh isn't in a good enough position to grab one of the top options.
The problem is, only contenders would be in the mix for Watt, which means even if the Steelers got multiple first-round picks, they would be late in the round, which would do little to help Pittsburgh's cause.
The only way it makes sense to trade Watt is if the Steelers go full rebuild, but they are not at that point. They're coming off a 10-win season in which they somehow made the playoffs despite having a terrible quarterback situation.
It's not totally crazy to think that if Wilson or Justin Fields prove to be even a small upgrade at quarterback from what Pittsburgh had in 2023, the Steelers can make some noise in 2024.
Why? Because of their defense, which is led by T.J. Watt.
