“Y’all know me, still the same T.J.”
Obviously, that’s a very poor attempt to make a play on the opening line from Dr. Dre’s “Forgot About Dre,” but it sure feels like the NFL has forgotten about Pittsburgh Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt entering the 2023 season.
Coming off of an injury-riddled 2022 season that saw him miss seven games and record just 5.5 sacks one year after winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, Watt is seemingly an afterthought due to the emergence of names like San Francisco’s Nick Bosa, Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Dallas’ Micah Parsons.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Bart Scott isn’t forgetting about Watt though.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Tuesday morning, Scott dropped the hammer definitively, ending any talk about the best defensive player in football. He stated T.J. Watt is that guy, regardless of any other name out there that other analysts want to try and debate.
“When T.J. Watt is healthy, he is the best defensive player in football, period,” Scott said on Get Up, according to video via the ESPN show’s Twitter page. “T.J. Watt should have two defensive MVPs. Injury is the only thing that has stopped him from doing that. And if he’s going to be opposite Trent Williams on Sunday, good luck to the right tackle. Long day.”
When the Steelers host the San Francisco 49ers Sunday to open the 2023 season at Acrisure Stadium, Watt will find himself lining up over top of San Francisco right tackle Colton McKivitz.
McKivitz was selected by the 49ers in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Entering his fourth season in the NFL, 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.
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.
Getting his first career start at right tackle and having do to so against Watt is quite a test out of the gate for the West Virginia product.
Watt has 77.5 career sacks, the most of any player in the league since he joined the league. It’s no small surprise that the Steelers’ best stretch of last season came with a healthy Watt. In the 10 games that Watt was healthy in 2022, the Steelers won eight games and lost only twice. They finished the season with a 9-8 record, meaning that when Watt was sidelined, Pittsburgh was 1-6.
Already an accomplished pass rusher, Watt will enter the 2023 season with something to prove. He started fast in 2022, dominating against the Cincinnati Bengals and veteran right tackle La’el Collins last season before getting hurt. Still angry from the injuries last season, Watt is on a mission. That’s trouble for McKivitz, as Scott pointed out.
A great start to the 2023 season on Sunday will put Watt back on the pedestal where he belongs as the best defensive player in football.
