No news is good news. Imo, he's playing another season
Which is funny, because a more definitive yes would have been made by or before the self-imposed "deadline" because it would have ended speculation and created a potentially more positive atmosphere moving into September. Now you only have like 6 weeks before training camp, to try and figure if your back will take the abuse that it couldn't, coming out of the last season.
Personally, I think we're in Datsyuk territory. Where the years, to include last year, were not meant to be played and that Z (and moreso his family) are really having doubts as to his ability to function on a daily basis. Injuries can be sated with procedures and future problems can be prevented, but that implies that you don't do what you have been doing, which created the issue in the first place. If it was me, I'd LTI-Retire. There is nothing left to prove and the years that you have left are with a team that, barring a miracle, won't make the playoffs. The best thing he can do, for himself and the team, is to let it all crash quickly so they can build back up and hopefully get some good draft years and have enough cap space to lure some good free agents.