The Pittsburgh Steelers always listed Ryan Watts as only a defensive back and acknowledged his flexibility from the outset. Thus far, however, it appears that they view the rookie as a safety with slot capability rather than a cornerback. He worked at safety throughout OTAs, and that trend continues in training camp. That’s how Mike DeFabo of The Athletic sees it, as well.
“As he transitions into the NFL, the Steelers have decided to turn Watts into a safety, where he won’t be asked to be as sticky in coverage and will have more opportunities in the box to use his physicality to his advantage”, he wrote recently. “Like many rookies, his best opportunity for early playing time will be on special teams, but he’ll need to get up to speed quickly on a defense that routinely deploys three safeties at the same time”.
At the college level, Ryan Watts was exclusively an outside cornerback, which occasionally puts you other places. His speed and agility at the time were enough to get by there for the Texas Longhorns, but not here. In college, his 6-3, 212-pound frame provided enough of an advantage, but less so in the NFL.
So the Steelers are seemingly taking the approach of being proactive in putting him in the best position to succeed. Watts knew coming out of the draft that he might switch positions, so I’m sure he wasn’t surprised. The team is using him in dime packages as a third safety as well.
A sixth-round pick, Watts recorded 100 tackles at the college level, including five for loss. He intercepted three passes, but none last season. His best opportunity to contribute as a rookie will be, as you might expect, on special teams.
Even with the release of Josiah Scott, the Steelers do have enough cornerbacks right now. On the outside, they have Joey Porter Jr., Donte Jackson, Darius Rush, Cory Trice Jr., and Anthony Averett. Beanie Bishop Jr. leads the pack inside along with Cameron Sutton and Grayland Arnold. Plus, they have numerous safeties, now including Watts, who is capable of sliding up into the slot.
Watts isn’t likely to see the field defensively this year, barring injury. Even in a projected dime package, you have Porter and Jackson plus safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott paired with Bishop and Damontae Kazee. That isn’t even mentioning Rush or Arnold as other slot-capable possibilities.
But as head coach Mike Tomlin always says, the more you can do. The Steelers already know that Ryan Watts has a cornerback background. Now they want to see how he transitions to safety and takes to it as a potentially better fit. So far, the results haven’t been extraordinary nor disappointing, but he should push for a roster spot.
