Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers felt what it was like to lose the most valuable player on their team for a significant amount of time. Coming off a Defensive Player of the Year campaign in 2021, OLB T.J. Watt was set to wreak havoc on opposing offenses again before a pec injury suffered in Week One against the Cincinnati Bengals caused him to miss seven games. Watt returned after the team’s bye week and despite playing less than 100 percentage, he still managed to help Pittsburgh rebound from a 1-6 record with him out of the lineup to an 8-2 record upon his return.
Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, GM Omar Khan was asked about Watt and his workload as the team prepares for the 2023 season. When asked by McAfee how difficult it can be to manage Watt’s snaps due to the caliber of player that he is, Khan explained that his talent does create some difficulty, but that the Steelers have plans in place to mitigate those potential risks.
“Yeah, it’s definitely difficult to manage just ’cause I think if you let T.J. play every single snap, every single walkthrough, he would do it, right?” Khan said on the Pat McAfee Show, which aired live on YouTube. “That’s just his nature. So, it’s on us to manage ’em. We have the data. We understand what the best avenue of practices for him. And, you know, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn’t. But we understand he’s a competitor and he’d be out there every single play if you let him.”
Watt is a dominant football player who doesn’t need any extrinsic motivation to get after it every single day. The dude constantly puts in the work to be the best at his craft, jumping at the opportunity to get better any chance he gets. Still, overuse injuries are a real thing, and having dealt with an injury scare in the preseason last year before getting hurt in the regular season, it’s imperative to manage your star player’s reps in both preseason and regular season action.
Last season, Pittsburgh didn’t have any notable depth behind Watt and Alex Highsmith at outside linebacker, notably struggling when Malik Reed or Jamir Jones got thrown out there. This offseason, the Steelers drafted Nick Herbig and signed Markus Golden, giving the team quality depth behind Watt and Highsmith to help manage their respective snap counts and keep them fresh.
You may want your best players to take every snap for your team, but you also want to keep them as healthy as possible. That’s the game the Steelers are playing with Watt, a guy who would take every snap if you let him. Pittsburgh has done a better job this offseason compared to seasons past by surrounding him with capable rotational players to manage his workload and hopefully keep him healthy for a dominant 2023 season.
