Pittsburgh Steelers rookie S Ryan Watts didn’t believe people when they told him that training camp would be hard, but when he got to Latrobe, he found out that things aren’t easy in Pittsburgh’s training camp. But Watts has embraced the difficulty, and he believes that the difficulty of camp is what makes the team so good since it gets the best out of players.
“People told me before it’s gonna be one of the hardest training camps. I’m like, can’t be too harder than college, they’re running through the dirt. But nah, it’s hard. I think that’s what makes the team so good, having that physicality every year for fall camps,” Watts said via Joe Rutter of TribLive on Twitter.
Ryan Watts talking about being in his first NFL training camp and differences from college. pic.twitter.com/O6fOPEJAe3
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) August 3, 2024
Watts said that a difficult camp is the “best way to do it.”
“I think that’s the best way to do it. Not having an easy way out, or shoot, just getting the best out of you, because you’re gonna get the best outta somebody. They isolate you and then we tackle in here. Every time we’re in here, we’re tackling, we go hard every day.”
Pittsburgh is one of the few teams that not only goes away for training camp but also embraces contact and tackling in camp. Patrick Queen said it’s a lot different than the Ravens camp in that aspect, but it’s something that Mike Tomlin and the Steelers embrace. The AFC North is the most physical division in football, and setting the tone early with physicality is something the Steelers have always done.
It’s one of those things where if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The physicality in camp hasn’t caused any real problems, and it gets the Steelers ramped up and ready to go for the start of the season. While the team hasn’t had playoff success recently, they’ve made the playoffs and won in the regular season. There’s no sign that the physicality of camp has caused any issues once the season starts. It helps set the mindset early for the type of team the Steelers want to be and gets them ready for AFC North football.
Watts has been primarily working at safety after playing cornerback during his college career at Texas. At 6027 and 208 pounds with a freakishly long 81 3/4″ wingspan, Watts has the ideal size and length for the position. Pittsburgh added safety depth with DeShon Elliott likely to start, and the team still has Damontae Kazee, so it might be hard initially for Watts to find consistent defensive reps, but he could wind up being a solid depth piece.
It’s always good to see rookies embrace the grind instead of running from it, and so far, Watts seems to have done so and is enjoying training camp. This could work in his favor when it comes to making the 53-man roster.
