ESPN Pundit Suggests Wild Steelers-Vikings Trade
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a tough spot at the quarterback position, and a long-term solution is not in close reach. They probably will have to wait until the 2026 NFL Draft to find a suitable answer at the games most important position.
With the Steelers stuck in quarterback purgatory, Evan Cohen of ESPN suggested a wild trade proposal on Tuesday’s episode of Unsportsmanlike. He has the Steelers sending All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt to the Minnesota Vikings for second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Cohen legitimately thinks that would be a good return for the Steelers, which is certainly head-scratching.
“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?” 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 idea of Watt being dealt has been floated out before by pundits, but a return of McCarthy would be pretty foolish. He didn’t play at all in his rookie season due to injury, and he was a questionable prospect coming out of Michigan.
Watt, 30, did have a bit of a down year in 2024, registering the third least sacks in a season (11.5) in his career. The other two seasons were his rookie year (seven sacks) and 2022 (5.5 sacks) when he played in just 10 games due to a knee injury.
Watt has also never won a playoff game, so there’s been some speculation that he would want to move on somewhere else to compete for a Super Bowl. He shut down those rumors, however, stating that he wants to be a one-helmet guy.
“I want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler,” Watt said. “You guys know that. I don’t want to leave this place. I want to be part of the solution. I’ve put so much into it here.”
Watt is heading into the final year on his contract, but he’s expected to receive an extension this offseason.
“I feel like we have the pieces,” Watt said. “It’s what I said a week ago going into the game. It doesn’t change just because of the loss. I still have a lot of belief in the people in this building because I see the work that’s behind the scenes.”