Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers insider Mark Kaboly has been pretty adamant this offseason that edge rusher T.J. Watt will not holdout of training camp. Watt didn’t appear at the team’s minicamp as he’s trying to negotiation a new contract extension with the Steelers before the 2025 season.
On Friday, Kaboly slightly walked back his confidence Watt won’t holdout before then confirming on social media he doesn’t see the edge rushing missing the start of training camp.
“Steelers are still in a holding pattern with T.J. Watt’s contract extension,” Kaboly said. “Length of deal, guarantees and total value — basically everything, to some varying degrees — are the sticking points right now,” tweeted Kaboly.
“Even so, there is no anticipation for Watt to holdout when camp starts on July 23 and there has been no inquires made to other teams about trading him.”
That tweet came Friday evening just a few hours after Kaboly left open the possibility of Watt not showing up at the start of Pittsburgh’s training camp.
Kaboly suggested the potential of Watt sitting out the beginning of camp while appearing on 93.7 The Fan.
“I’ll put it this way. I was hellbent, absolutely certain, that he was going to not hold out of training camp. After a piece of information was passed along, maybe I’m wavering on it a little bit now.”
Steelers, T.J. Watt Not Close on New Contract?
Kaboly didn’t provide the information that initially changed his mind Friday about Watt’s potential camp attendance. Without that knowledge, it’s hard to predict which Kaboly update might be most accurate.
But despite their conflicting nature, they somewhat gel together as well.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and others have reported this summer Watt and the Steelers are not close to an extension. Kaboly has reported that the two sides will eventually agree to a deal but not said when.
Both can be true, and whether one sees that as a bad thing or a normal occurrence depends largely on one’s positivity.
Kaboly has presented a positive front — one that says a deal will be reached.
“These are how high-profiled and big money deals go,” he also tweeted Friday. “Seems like it could go down to the wire as it did in 2021.”
During 2021, Watt didn’t sign his new contract until days before the season. But he did show up to training camp. The edge rusher could easily attend the start of camp without a new deal this year too.
That would make both reports from Schefter and Kaboly correct.
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