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 to a pectoral injury. To secure that prestigious 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 of two-a-day posts, each will include two tackles that Watt is likely to face during the 2023 season. Next up in this series is a look at the second set of two right tackles that Watt will likely face in 2023: Braden Smith of the Indianapolis Colts and Abraham Lucas of the Seattle Seahawks.
Braden Smith, Indianapolis Colts – Week 15: It’s hard to believe that Smith has already been in the NFL for five seasons. The former second round draft pick out of Auburn has now played in 72 NFL games and has made 70 starts in total. Last season, Smith played in 16 regular season games and obviously most of his snaps came at right tackle. He posted a respectable Pro Football Focus grade of 75.5 last season but did allow seven sacks, seven quarterback hits and 16 hurries in 669 total pass blocking opportunities.
Watt and Smith have already faced off against each other twice previously with the last meeting coming just last season. Smith did not allow a sack in that 2022 contest against the Steelers and Watt finished that game with just three total tackles and one quarterback hit. In the 2019 game between the Colts and Steelers, Watt had two sacks against Smith.
Outlook: As you can see, Smith and Watt already know each other well so this certainly sets up to be an interesting third matchup between the tackle and the outside linebacker. The Colts figure to have their rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson with several starts under his belt come Week 15 and that’s yet another intriguing note well ahead of this December meeting in Indianapolis.
Smith is long but has had some previous struggles against top NFL edge rushers. This could be a fun matchup to watch and it’s too bad we must wait five more months for it to take place.
Abraham Lucas, Seattle Seahawks – Week 17: The Steelers next to last regular season game of the 2023 regular season will be on the road against the Seahawks and that means we figure to be in store for a matchup featuring Lucas versus Watt. Lucas was originally selected by the Seahawks in in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Washington State and last season he started 16 games for them at right tackle.
According to Pro Football Focus, Lucas allowed nine sacks as a rookie in 2022 in addition to eight quarterback hits and 11 hurries. His overall PFF grade for 2022 was 68.5. He was penalized seven times in 2022 with four of those being for false starts. Two other penalties called on Lucas in 2022 were for holding.
Outlook: With Lucas being a second-year player in 2023, he will face Watt for the first time ever in 2023. With this meeting between the Seahawks and the Steelers coming late in the regular season, it will be interesting to see how Lucas plays in his team’s prior games. He was very shaky at times as a rookie and especially when it came to him facing a few of the league’s top edge rushers.
This far out, this meeting between Lucas and Watt seems to favor the latter. Even so, a lot of football games will have taken place for both teams well prior to this extremely late December contest. Personally, I expect Watt to end 2023 with a bang and potentially leave Seattle wearing Lucas as a hat.
Previous Posts In This Series:
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – McKivitz, Conklin
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – Eluemunor, Howard
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – Moses, Havenstein
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – Harrison, Unknown
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – Tom, Williams
Two-A-Day Series: Right Tackles Steelers OLB T.J. Watt Likely To Face In 2023 – Beachum, Reiff
