Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - The Pittsburgh Steelers have locked up their best player on the defensive side of the ball by guaranteeing a lot of money towards keeping the Steel Curtain as one of the NFL’s best defenses.

Outside linebacker T.J. Watt (26) will stay in Pittsburgh for at least another few years as his contract has been extended four more seasons with the Steelers.

His new multi-year deal is worth $112 million, according to a team source who broke the news to ESPN's Adam Schefter. As part of the deal, Watt will get a guaranteed $80 million.

When doing the math, he’s set to average an annual salary of $28 million, making him the highest-paid defensive player in the league, just past the Chargers’ Joey Bosa, who makes an average of $27 million per season.

Watt, who finished second to the Rams’ Aaron Donald for Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, spent most of his preseason at the negotiating table rather than the football field. But holding out definitely paid off, and his teammates couldn’t be happier.

"One of the reasons I took less money was for guys like him to get paid, and he needs to get paid," said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to ESPN. "He deserves every penny that he wants and asks for. T.J. Watt is that guy that should get whatever he wants."

One of Watt’s defensive teammates, Joe Haden, took to Twitter to exclaim, "I could cry!!!"

Now that it seems the Steelers’ defense is all set and ready to go, they’ll head to Buffalo to open the 2021 season against the Bills on Sunday, September 12.