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TJ Watt’s position has been clear. He won’t be training until he and the Pittsburgh Steelers agree on a long-term deal. So despite Pittsburgh playing its first game of Week 1 against Buffalo on Sunday, Watt’s training status did not change during Monday’s session. This is according to several beat journalists via Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten.
TJ Watt’s training participation has not changed today from what it was at training camp.
– Ray Fittipaldo (@ rayfitt1) September 6, 2021
According to the Steelers, Watt’s training participation has not changed. Which means that, just like he did throughout training camp, Watt went through individual sessions and worked in parallel. But he did not participate in the full team sessions. The next one he does will be his first this year.
He and the Steelers are still negotiating a long-term deal that will make him the highest-paid defensive player in football and possibly the first defenseman with an average annual value of $ 30 million. Both sides have remained adamant that they want to strike a deal. But a big, complicated deal and the Steelers’ old-fashioned ways of building contracts make this process drag on until the last moment. Pittsburgh does not negotiate contracts once the season has started.
There should always be optimism, a contract is in place before the Steelers opener. But Watt missed a lot of time and certainly won’t be able to play his usual percentage of snaps against the Bills. Over the past three years, he’s played between 83% and 87% of defense snaps. Melvin Ingram will likely see a heavier workload with Watt and Alex Highsmith, who has played in the camp and looks set to make the second year jump. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN himself speculates that Watt might not play in the first game at all if an agreement is not reached quickly.
Mike Tomlin is due to hold his weekly press conference Tuesday at noon and almost assuredly be asked about Watt’s situation and outlook.
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