Though they didn’t play the same position, their approach to football was identical. Mike Tomlin’s coached some unbelievable players in his long career, and just recently literally put a gold jacket on Ronde Barber. In Pittsburgh, Tomlin’s been around Hall of Fame talent. But he knows the best players aren’t just big, fast, and strong. They combine elite physical tools with an elite work ethic and football IQ.
Joining Rich Eisen in a Monday interview, Tomlin said T.J. Watt’s approach is Hall-of-Fame level.
“He in that elite class,” Tomlin told Eisen when asked to rank Watt. “And not only because of his talent but his commitment daily. The physical work that he does, the classroom work that he does, his approach to his business is elite. It is Derrick Brooks, it is John Lynch. It is like some of the guys that I’ve been around that we had a chance to spend some time with a few weekends ago.”
Tomlin coached Brooks and Lynch in Tampa Bay as the Buccaneers’ defensive backs coach from 2001-2005. He primarily worked with the likes of Lynch and Barber but Brooks helped revolutionize Cover 2, a linebacker with safety speed who could run with receivers down the seam and minimize the scheme’s primary weakness, the middle of the field.
Watt studies the game as hard as anyone and has done everything possible to gain a winning edge. During the 2020 pandemic year when the Steelers played in front of small or non-existent crowds, he watched the TV tape in order to hear the quarterback’s cadence and be better equipped to time his jump off the ball. That year, he set a career-high with 15 sacks, a figure that led the NFL. In 2021, he tied the official NFL sack record with 22.5 quarterback takedowns.
For Tomlin, having a worker like Watt rubs off on young players.
“He’s such a really good example to the young Steelers just on a day like today. Just watching him go about his business and the professionalism in which he does it and the urgency in which he does it every single day,” he said. “He’s in the tip top of that elite group for sure.”
The latest example of that comes from rookie fourth round linebacker Nick Herbig. Like Watt, he played his college ball at Wisconsin, and he’s spent their summer picking his brain daily. Herbig’s game has grown because of it, and he directly cited Watt for giving him advice on one of his 3.5 preseason sacks. Herbig’s work ethic is strong and he’s absorbed everything Watt (and other Steelers’ veterans like Alex Highsmith and Markus Golden) have given him.
Watt will look to break the Steelers’ career sack record early this season, needing only 3.5 to eclipse James Harrison’s top mark. Watt is competing with Cam Heyward to be the first man there — Heyward currently leads Watt by one career sack — but Watt should hold first place by season’s end. Soon enough, Watt will be over 100 for his career and if he stays healthy, there’s no telling where his sack total will end up. But we can map out where his career will end up. In Canton, Ohio, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and up on a stage next to Brooks, Lynch, and all the rest of football’s best.
