The Pittsburgh Steelers passed on secondary options in the fourth round like T.J. Tampa in favor of a third offensive lineman, settling for Ryan Watts in the sixth round. What’s next for him and the team remains to be seen, however; for now, he’s competing for a roster spot.
CBS Sports analyst Ryan Wilson believes the Steelers made a solid choice here, as he told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan. “He is long. He tested through the roof. I thought he might go a round higher”, he said, though not without reservations.
“The issue is that he’s a little stiff, and that might necessitate the move to safety. He played primarily outside at Texas”, Wilson said of Watts. “He does a lot of things well. Maybe not A+ well, but I give this a B, where he was drafted”.
Watts stands at 6-3, 208 pounds, but he lacks elite speed and fluidity. While his NFL Scouting Combine numbers point to that—such as a 4.53-second 40-yard dash, it also shows up on tape. At the same time, the speed is less of an issue than the short-area quickness. Wilson pointed out one play from Texas’ bowl game.
“He got beat on that post against Washington in the playoff game against Rome Odunze”, he recalled of Watts going up against at 2024 top-10 wide receiver. “He ran a perfect post and Michael Penix [Jr.] made a perfect throw. He was in coverage, and he got beat by the perfect play.
“If you can run with Odunze down the field on the post, that shows your deep speed. But I don’t think he’s necessarily a guy you want covering guys on shorter, intermediate, in-breakers. So I’ll give this a B, and again, I like the depth”.
It’s nice if you can defend the boundary, but an NFL outside starting cornerback must defend a diverse route tree. There are elements of Watts’ game you can coach up, something that Josh Carney referenced, but you can only work so much at loosening your hips as a fully mature adult athlete. My hips certainly haven’t gotten any looser over the years.
This is why many believe that Ryan Watts will ultimately play safety at the NFL level. But he’s not going to play anything if he doesn’t first establish himself on special teams. To his credit, he was a four-phase special teamer at the college level, so he has a clear leg up there.
Either way, the Steelers’ depth at cornerback remains a concern with only Watts emerging from the draft. Behind Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson are only young, unpedigreed, untested players. It’s easy to view them as diamonds in the rough based on their measurables without putting them to the test.
