Is T.J. Watt sitting out of Steelers training camp essentially a holdout?

Will Steelers give Watt a Contract extension?

Ok, the answer to that is a bit murky. If the Steelers stand pat, then history says no. However here is how the situation differs from Bell’s. Bell ran off to Florida during his holdout, got out of shape. He refused to entertain anything less than the highest contract for a running back.

T.J. Watt’s approach seems different; despite not practicing, he is still at camp. He just has not put on the pads and stepped on the field. He also traveled to Canton, and according to Tomlin, Watt still runs sprints and does hand-eye coordination drills with staffers.  This is a misnomer. Normally T.J. would have not reported to camp. If he does not show up he can get fined $50,000 a day now thanks to the CBA. So he is avoiding the fines by working out on the sideline doing drills.

It seems Watt is walking a fine line; he wants a new contract but not at the expense of the season, or so it would seem. On the Steelers side, it seems they may be actively negotiating. Thus the assumed narrative would be Watt is sitting out of practice, staying healthy, at least on the assumption there will be a deal in place by week one. As soon as there is, he straps on the pads and has not lost much.

The flipside, though, is what happens on September 12th and no deal is inked? No one has said much about that, not yet anyway. Would Watt be willing to refuse to play if there is no new deal in place? Is he just hoping not practicing is just enough leverage to get that contract extension? The prevailing belief is if no deal is inked, T.J. will end his holdout and go back to work and play the remainder of the season. However, things could go south from there. Steelers could postpone the inevitable by slapping the franchise tag on T.J. however they would still have to pay him what he wants, if not someone else will.

Then from the Steelers’ perspective, would they really offer Watt a contract of $100 plus million? It may be safe to assume they have not to this point. If they had, it would seem logical we would not be talking about this issue.

It seems both sides are trying to keep a positive spin, and it seems both sides are talking.   However, there are many things to be wary of, and there are many things we still do not know. For instance, how far apart in dollars are Watt and the Steelers. Despite a disappointing 2020 season, there was hope for a serious Superbowl run in 2021. This latest news puts a damper on that, although on the bright side, we still have four weeks for both sides to come to an agreement.