Modern day sports radio doesn’t exactly live in reality. The goal is often to stir the pot, spark conversation and, in most instances, rile up the fan base.
By that logic, Philadelphia’s 94WIP midday show brought an excellent topic to the table this week.
The subject of trading for T.J. Watt, who’s currently in a contract standoff with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is likely being hammered out nationally. The Steelers will either have to bend and pay the face of their franchise a whopping extension, likely in the neighborhood of Myles Garrett’s $40 million per year, or actually take one of the NFL’s most dominant singular stars to the trade market and see how much they can acquire in return.
For the record, the latter scenario is extremely unlikely. When mega stars hold out for money, they typically get their bag. Garrett literally announced a trade demand from Cleveland this spring, and weeks later he was made the highest-paid defensive player in league history. This is how business gets done in the NFL, and Watt (and the Steelers, for that matter) are simply playing the game.
Nothing’s ever 100 percent, of course, so even the slimmest chance of Watt becoming available makes for a good talking point, and WIP’s Joe Giglio ran with it Tuesday with guest Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh.
The guys discussed the possibility of Eagles GM Howie Roseman trading for Watt, and Fillipponi offered up a hypothetical trade idea he feels Steelers coach Mike Tomliin would go for: 24-year-old EDGE rusher Nolan Smith Jr. and a Day 3 draft pick for Watt and his looming contract extension.
Eliot Shorr-Parks, who covers the Eagles for WIP, was among those in favor of the blockbuster trade pitch:
“The more I think about it the more I think the Eagles should be willing to part with one of their great young players (plus a) draft pick for TJ Watt,” he wrote. “The window to win is now. The EDGEs are unproven. Adding Watt makes every single player on the team — offense and defense — better.”
As you might expect, Eagles fans were pretty unanimously against the take: “I couldn’t disagree more ESP,” Aaron in San Diego replied. “Nolan Smith is going to be a monster on and off the field for the Eagles for the next 10 years. Not only is he becoming a great player. He is a culture and locker room guy. He seems to have that Brandon Graham quality about him.”
There’s obviously no world where the Eagles would entertain a deal like this. They’d be trading a young, ascending asset who could be under team control through the 2027 season. That’s not to mention Smith was a key performer on a Super Bowl championship roster and, to Aaron’s point, is a glue guy in the locker room.
None of that makes this a bad talking point for sports radio, thouogh. It’s their job to spark debate and conversation, and that was certainly accomplished. Josh Davis and Anthony DiBona of The Philly Special Show did a more thorough breakdown on the hypothetical in their recent livestream.
“I would very much be against it, for a number of reasons,” Davis said. “There’s no way that you trade away Nolan Smith and a draft pick, unless you have full intentions to get T.J. Watt and extend the contract. Otherwise, what on earth are you doing? For one season, you want to have T.J. Watt, who I guess you’re hoping would even play… like what if he holds out? What if he’s like, ‘Nah, I’m not going to play.’ Then you’ve really screwed yourself.”
Why has this topic gained so much traction? Well, it’s early July, for starters. The Eagles are also notorious for swinging big trades, and they have the salary cap space and 2026 draft capital to make a splash move this summer. The longer the Watt saga drags out, the more Philly will be linked to hypothetical trades like this one. Even if they don’t make all that much sense in the long run.
It may be a fantasyland topic, but let the debate rage on.
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