Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt will be looking to notch his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023 after a 2022 season that included him missing seven games due a to pectoral injury. To secure that prestigious defensive award in 2023, Watt will obviously need to have a consistent performance this coming season and stay healthy. Ahead of the Steelers’ 2023 training camp getting underway, I thought it would be fun to look at 14 predicted different right tackles that Watt is likely to do battle against during the regular season.
In this series a of two-a-day posts, each will include two tackles that Watt is likely to face during the 2023 season. First up in this series is a look at the first two right tackles that Watt will likely face in 2023, Colton McKivitz of the San Francisco 49ers and Jack Conklin of the Cleveland Browns.
Colton McKivitz – San Francisco 49ers – Week 1 – First up for Watt in 2023 figures to be McKivitz, who was originally selected by the 49ers in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of West Virginia. To date, McKivitz has played just 466 offensive snaps in his first three NFL seasons with 296 of them coming at right guard. While he has played 146 snaps at tackle in his NFL career, only 29 of those have come at right tackle, the position he figures to be the starter at in 2023.
Last season, McKivitz played all of 71 offensive snaps with the majority of them coming at left tackle. He did, however, register a pass blocking grade of 85.9 last season, according to Pro Football Focus. McKivitz has allowed three sacks so far in his NFL career to go along with three quarterback hits and 11 total hurries. The 49ers signed McKivitz to a two-year, $4.56 million contract extension back in March with the intentions of him taking over for the team’s former starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who signed with the Denver Broncos this past offseason as an unrestricted free agent.
Outlook: On the surface, this Week 1 matchup for Watt against McKivitz seems like a very favorable one. After all, this will be McKivitz’s first full season as a starter. It is worth noting that McKivitz did play quite a bit of right tackle in college at West Virginia and that’s likely a main reason why the 49ers have comfort in him moving forward as a starter at that position. Needless to say, this will be quite a test for the 6’6” McKivitz right out of the chute in 2023 and the 49ers are likely going to make sure he gets some help in Week 1 with Watt in the form of chipping running backs and tight ends.
Jack Conklin – Cleveland Browns – Week 2 & Week 11 – Watt will see a somewhat familiar face in the Steelers’ Week 2 home game against the Browns in the form of Conklin, who was originally selected in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Michigan State by the Tennessee Titans. To date, Conklin has started 96 NFL games and most of his 6,121 total offensive snaps have come at right tackle. For his NFL career to date Conklin has allowed 19 sacks, 18 quarterback hits and 113 hurries.
Conklin has faced Watt several times in his career, but he only played 21 snaps in the last contest that the two were both healthy for back in 2021. The two times that Watt and Conklin faced off during the 2020 season, Watt failed to register a sack.
Outlook: While Watt and Conklin have played against each other a few times since 2017, the former hasn’t had great success overall versus the latter. The two missed playing each other last season due to injuries so it will be interesting to see them square off in Week 2 of the 2023 regular season and again in Week 11 in Cleveland. Conklin is a two-time First-Team All-Pro and he’ll be all of 29 years of age by the start of the 2023 regular season.
Quite honestly, he might wind up being one of the toughest right tackles that Watt will face in 2023. It will be fun watching them do battle in the two meetings between the Steelers and the Browns.
