The Steelers and T.J. Watt have a contract to hammer out during training camp, but what if he doesn’t report? The team has a long-standing policy of not negotiating with holdouts, but they have broken precedents for Watt before. The last time they signed him to an extension, he conducted a hold-in, but if he ups the ante?
Veteran Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly doesn’t think they budge for T.J. Watt, which would halt contract talks. And that is not a matter to take lightly, considering he already skipped minicamp, which is already a departure. Minicamp is a mandatory team activity for everyone under contract. While teams may withhold a fine, it’s not clear if they did so in this case.
Speaking on 93.7 The Fan about the Steelers’ contract stalemate with Watt, Kaboly said if he were Watt, he reports. “I’m showing up, I’m doing my side workout, what I would be doing in Wisconsin anyway, and we can keep the lines of communication open. There’s a lot of things that Omar [Khan] and the organization have changed over the past three or four years. I don’t think they’re willing to say, ‘We’re willing to negotiate with people who are not here’”.
Since the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement, we see very few true holdouts anymore. In the last CBA, power shifted from the teams to the NFL to fine players under contract for not reporting, and they increased the amount of the fines. This gave birth to the “hold-ins”, where players report, but don’t participate in on-field practices. The Steelers and Watt were more than happy with this arrangement during his last contract negotiation.
At this point, however, he has not been around since the end of last season, for all we know. At the very least, there is no public record of him spending any time in Pittsburgh since then. After skipping minicamp, are the Steelers confident T.J. Watt reports to training camp, and what is the status of contract negotiations?
Suffice it to say that neither the Steelers nor Watt are thrilled with contract talks currently stand. Complicating matters is the ballooning of the market thanks to Myles Garrett’s contract. Setting the bar at $40 million, that is the figure around which the player and team must work.
One can always fudge he numbers, but what exactly are his priorities? Last time, Watt managed to get the Steelers to guarantee the first three years of his contract. Given that he is considerably older now and coming off a “down” season, though, are they as optimistic about his next three or four years as they were the last time around?
Many people point out that the last time Watt sat out Steelers training camp amid a contract dispute, he had a Defensive Player of the Year season. That’s easy to lean on, but don’t count on it happening twice. It’s not as though not practicing powered him to that kind of success. Perhaps he doesn’t need it, but it would probably be helpful to work with the new parts in the defense.
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