UNITY TWP., Pa. —We have completed just one practice of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp 2025. Pads won't come on until next week. But I'm still already sick of hearing about the Steelers moving T.J. Watt around more in 2025.
Watt, if you're not aware, has almost exclusively played left outside linebacker in his eight-year Steelers tenure. Of his 585 pass-rush snaps last season, Watt played just eight on the right side of the defense, per PFF .
Watt also had the worst full season of his career since he was a rookie, recording just 11.5 sacks over a full 17 games.
Now, there's plenty that happened last year that didn't have anything to do with why Watt was less productive. He was injured against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14, and even though he didn't miss time, Watt didn't have a sack in any of the final three games of the season.
The Steelers also had numerous missed assignment and communications problems in the secondary that made it hard for defensive coordinator Teryl Austin to trust them to hold up if he called a bunch of blitzes.
But the big problem was that teams have finally caught on that they have to use a back or a tight end to chip Watt on almost every play. His chip rate was double that of the second-most-chipped defender in the league at times last year.
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt is blocked by Baltimore Ravens fullback Patrick Ricard on Jan. 11, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Will moving him to the right side of the defense help that? Probably not much. It's not big deal for a running back to chip to the opposite side. A tight end following him across the formation might be awkward for an offense, but it's far from some kind of tactical victory for Pittsburgh.
Watt hasn't even shown to be all that good on the other side of the field. He doesn't have that many snaps, but Watt hasn't had a sack from the opposite side since he played there about half the time as a rookie in 2017.
The Steelers need to make their defense more dynamic around Watt. They have to be able to cover better so they can incorporate more exotic blitzes and find ways to make quarterbacks hold the ball so that Watt can get home.
Moving Watt around the defense can be a part of that, but that alone won't be some kind of panacea.
Despite that, between interviews with Watt himself, Mike Tomlin, Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith , I heard a version of the "are they going to move T.J. Watt around more this year" question about nine times on the first day of training camp.
I sure hope we get off that train quickly.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Saunders: Moving T.J. Watt Around Won't Be Magic Cure for Steelers Defense
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