Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt already has two sacks on the season though he should have more, and right behind him is NT Montravius Adams. He finally notched his first sack as a member of the team in Week 1 but just barely. Cameron Heyward was in hot pursuit as well, but Adams got there first.
That’s something he has gotten used to playing with the Steelers because it’s a race to the quarterback here. Adams talked about that on Steelers Nation Radio yesterday, and how fast interior lineman have to be to get sacks.
“Oh yeah, man, because, shoot, if I don’t win in about three seconds, T.J. [Watt] and Alex [Highsmith], they’re coming, man”, Adams said, via the Steelers’ website. “Herb [Nick Herbig]. They’re gonna be there man. If we don’t get it quick, you know who’s gonna get it”.
A 2017 third-round pick by the Green Bay Packers, Montravius Adams spent the first half of his career stuck behind a stud in Kenny Clark. Hitting free agency in 2021, he wound up with three teams that year, finally landing in Pittsburgh. Since then, he has found his home running around with Watt, Highsmith, Heyward, and company.
Since his first full season in Pittsburgh, Adams has played 741 defensive snaps, including 44 this year. He played by far a career-high 416 snaps in 2023 even though he was splitting time with then-rookie Keeanu Benton.
Despite Benton’s emergence last year, the Steelers re-signed Montravius Adams a second time, giving him a two-year, $5.25 million contract. So far he is delivering, with five tackles, including one for loss, and a sack through two games. He wants to get more, but he knows the end goal is the same no matter who gets there.
“Not that it makes your job harder because at the end of the day, I’m gonna be happy as long as we get the sack and get the win”, Adams said about interior linemen needing to be quick to beat T.J. Watt and company to the quarterback. “As far as yourself and goals you have for yourself, man, you better be fast”.
Adams has been part of a healthy five-man rotation along the defensive line for the Steelers this year. Cameron Heyward has played 65 percent of the snaps with Larry Ogunjobi near 60 percent. Keeanu Benton is a little over 46 percent with Adams over 37 percent. Isaiahh Loudermilk, meanwhile, has comfortably out-snapped DeMarvin Leal by nearly three times. Leal only has nine snaps through two games, but that’s partly because they feel they haven’t needed him.
Meanwhile, T.J. Watt is one of the five defenders on the roster with 100-plus snaps played thus far. He is just under a 90-percent workload with Alex Highsmith surprisingly behind at 84 percent. In case you’re wondering, Nick Herbig is playing 29 percent of the snaps so far. The front seven as a whole has seen a lot of bodies, with Payton Wilson factoring in at inside linebacker. And it’s guys like Montravius Adams who keep the blue-chip players going deep into games, and deep into the season.
