NFL outside linebacker · Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Trent Jordan “T.J.” Watt
NFL edge rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers; youngest of the Watt brothers; born and raised in Pewaukee
$155 million
Trent Jordan “T.J.” Watt is the youngest of the Pewaukee Watt brothers and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ career sack leader. Where older brother J.J. became the face of Houston’s defense, T.J. built his own path as an edge rusher in black and gold, tying a single-season sack record and winning Defensive Player of the Year. He was born in Pewaukee on October 11, 1994, and graduated from Pewaukee High School in 2013. That same year he won the Wisconsin state shot-put title, the third Watt to push the family mark their father John set in 1980. He followed J.J. and Derek to Wisconsin, missed most of his first two college seasons to injury, then erupted as a redshirt junior in 2016 with 11½ sacks and All-Big Ten honors. He played only twenty-two games as a Badger; fourteen of them came in that 2016 season, enough to make him a first-round pick. Pittsburgh selected him in the first round in 2017. In 2021 he tied Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record at 22½ and won Defensive Player of the Year. He holds the Steelers’ career sack mark. Spotrac puts career cash at about $155 million through 2025. In May 2023 Pewaukee retired his No. 20 alongside Derek’s No. 16. The geography is the same Pewaukee raise as his brothers; the résumé is distinctly Pittsburgh.