Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt was not in attendance for the team’s first day of mandatory minicamp on Wednesday, and with him not showing up, he could be subject to fines. However, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette doesn’t think Pittsburgh will go through with fining Watt, who is looking for a new contract with the Steelers.
“They certainly can fine him, but I don’t think that’s good business for the Steelers. And honestly, $100,000 to a guy like T.J. Watt is like fining you and me 50 bucks. So I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” Fittipaldo said Wednesday on The Fan Morning Show on 93.7 The Fan.
However, Fittipaldo also isn’t confident that Watt will be signed to a new deal any time soon.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of momentum to get his done before training camp,” he said. “Never say never, but I think this is gonna drag on for quite some time.”
That’s not the best news for Steelers fans, and it could lead to a training camp hold-in for Watt. Fittipaldo is right that fining Watt isn’t good business – the team can fine Watt up to $104,768 if he misses all three days of minicamp, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the route the Steelers are going to take.
The lack of momentum to get a deal done is puzzling, though. While the Steelers coaches aren’t concerned with Watt’s absence from minicamp and he’s off working on his own, why the team wouldn’t want to get a deal done now and lock up its best defensive player doesn’t make any sense.
Pittsburgh already messed up, in my opinion, this offseason by waiting until Maxx Crosby got a new deal from the Las Vegas Raiders and Myles Garrett got a new deal from the Browns. With Watt one of a handful of EDGE rushers still waiting for a new contract, waiting and getting beat to the punch by the Dallas Cowboys paying Micah Parsons or the Cincinnati Bengals (or someone else) paying Trey Hendrickson would be costly for Pittsburgh.
If it’s bad business to fine Watt, it’s certainly bad business for the Steelers to sit on their hands and not actively work to get a deal done. If Watt doesn’t like the offer that’s out there right now, find a way to improve it and get him in the building by training camp. It’s not so much as getting him ready to go, because Watt can hold in and keep doing his own thing and be ready for the season, but it’ll make sure the Steelers aren’t going to need to pay even more to keep Watt if someone like Parsons gets a deal first.
I’m not quite sure what the Steelers are waiting for, and while there isn’t any long-term concern about Watt leaving or the Steelers not getting a deal done, the team is only hurting itself by letting this thing drag on.
