If things go as expected this season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and key players perform up to standard, Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame believes that the Black and Gold will be well represented on the NFL’s first-team All-Pro list.
In a piece for SI.com Tuesday predicting the first—and second-team All-Pro players in the NFL in 2024, Verderame predicted the Steelers would be represented by outside linebacker T.J. Watt and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Neither of those names should be a surprise.
Watt is predicted to land on the first team with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, which is expected if both are healthy and perform to their standards. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the two in a battle for the 2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year again.
“In Watt, the Steelers have a 28-year-old dynamo who has led the league in sacks three of the past four seasons, including 19 in 2023 and a career-high 22.5 in ’21,” Verderame writes regarding Watt as a first-team All-Pro prediction.
Outside of the 2022 season, in which he missed seven games due to a torn pectoral muscle, Watt has been a first-team All-Pro every year since 2019. He’s arguably the best pass rusher in football and is truly a complete defender off the edge.
Last season alone, Watt led the NFL in sacks for the third different time in his career, making NFL history in the process. His 19.0-sack season also put him in elite company in NFL history, too, as he became just the fourth player ever with two seasons of 19+ sacks in NFL history, alongside his older brother, J.J., Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware, and Mark Gastineau.
Elite company.
His consistency on the field also sets him apart. Watt recorded at least one sack in 13 of 17 games last season. In the 2024 season, Watt will eclipse the 100-sack mark for his career, which will continue to strengthen his Hall of Fame resume.
As for Fitzpatrick, it’s a bit of a surprise that Verderame predicted him as a first-team All-Pro safety alongside Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton, considering he’s coming off of his worst season as a pro in which he played just 10 games due to injury and didn’t record a single forced turnover on the season.
“Hamilton is only entering his third year, but he’s already the best safety in the league. In fact, his closest competition might be a tad west, with Fitzpatrick consistently in the conversation as well,” Verderame writes, predicting Fitzpatrick as a first-team All-Pro safety. “Hamilton has the skill set to cover elite tight ends while also roaming in the middle of the field, while Fitzpatrick has notched 19 interceptions in his career between Miami and Pittsburgh.”
Even with the down 2023 season in which he battled injuries and a role that limited his impact on the football, Fitzpatrick still garners some respect as one of the best safeties in football.
In 2024, back to full health, he should be able to get back on track.
With improvements around him on the roster, too, thanks to some shrewd business by GM Omar Khan, Fitzpatrick should have a strong support staff around him in the secondary. That should allow him to return to being that roving, ball-hawking safety that he previously was down the field rather than living near the line of scrimmage, which affects his ability to change the game.
The last time he had a tough season and saw his turnover numbers plummet, Fitzpatrick came back with a vengeance for the 2022 season and picked off a career-best six passes, earning first-team All-Pro honors.
Don’t be surprised if he comes close to that again in 2024.
