The Pittsburgh Steelers have offered a two-word response to the T.J. Watt trade rumors on Monday, trying to close a can of worms that may have been opened by nothing more than an ESPN guess.
And now - maybe - Watt has offered his own response to the entire saga.
The Steelers are staying busy with playoff-minded moves again as they have traded away safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and a late-round pick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith.
Just as with acquiring wide receiver D.K. Metcalf from the Seattle Seahawks and just as with signing quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the organization deserved to be applauded for its "loaded-up'' effort... and we see no connection to T.J. Watt except that the club is trying to muscle up...
With an eventual plan to pay him for his muscle, too.
Watt, 30, is certainly not happy with his present contract situation as he's entering the final year of that four-year, $112 million deal he signed in 2021... and he's holding out for an upgrade.
All of this had led to ESPN insider Adam Schefter suggesting that there is suddenly another level of Watt discontent here.
“I don’t think he’s particularly pleased,'' Schefter said of Watt. "They just gave Jonnu Smith more money, they just gave Jalen Ramsey more money, they haven't given T.J. Watt more money, and you just wonder how that’s going to play out.”
Who told Schefter that Watt is displeased?
In any event, he'd better be right, because now he's doubling down with another nugget.
"Sources believe outside team interest is likely to increase given today’s trade," Schefter said.
And what does Watt think about all of this?
“Watt is ready for any outcome,” PFT‘s Mike Florio says, “and not afraid to push the issue.”
Is Florio plugged in here? We are uncertain.
And Adam?
Schefter seems on the verge of creating his own story here. Suggest a problem. Then suggest solutions. It's a game of ping-pong with (maybe) just one player.
So, "outside team interest'' is bubbling up, the Steelers must be contacted for a response to ESPN's trade guesses, right?
Right.
So reporter Nick Farabaugh asked. Any actually trade rumors happening from the Steelers side?
"(Expletive) no," a team source told him.
So now we've got four stories on Watt, much of it generated by what seems like guesswork … as we await Watt actually speaking for himself.