T.J. Watt is one of the best defenders in the NFL, but to end this season, he was almost invisible. The Pittsburgh Steelers ended the season on a five-game losing streak, and Watt’s lack of production is part of the reason why. He didn’t record a sack in the Steelers’ last three regular-season games, and he was also shut out in their playoff game.
He vowed Monday that he will do whatever it takes to come back better than ever, and that includes looking at his own game.
“Definitely feel like, schematically, it’s been a tough year for how offenses scheme things to try to get me out of the game,” Watt said Monday via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s YouTube channel. “It’s gonna be a big breakdown for me to try to find ways to make plays.
“I’m not making excuses for myself at all. I wanna make plays. I need to find ways to continue to win off of chips and slides and things of that nature. I’m gonna work tirelessly this offseason to get that sorted.”
Watt dealt with constant chips and double teams in 2024. Most teams were not willing to allow him to wreck the game. He started off the year hot, but as the season progressed, teams did a better job of limiting his impact. It’s not like Watt’s drop-off in production was the Steelers’ only problem, but as their best player, they needed him to step up more.
“I need to be more open to moving around more and trying to affect games as much as possible,” Watt said. “You guys know I wanna affect the game more than anybody, but I don’t wanna selfishly take another guy’s, go to a different spot where I feel like I could have a better rush than on the left side.”
In 2025, it sounds like Watt might move around a little bit more. He primarily plays on the left side of the defense but perhaps moving around will counter how teams are scheming against him. The Steelers flirted with that idea this year, moving Watt around a handful of times around the middle of the season. However, it felt like they quickly abandoned that strategy before it ever really got legs.
It sounds like Watt is part of the reason they stopped doing that. It seems like he doesn’t want to come off as selfish, moving other players around so he can boost his own stats. However, that wouldn’t be selfish if it helps the team win.
Moving Watt around wouldn’t just be about boosting his stats. It would be harder for teams to scheme up chips and double teams if they don’t always know where Watt is going to line up.
“I move around from time to time. I’m primarily left. I prefer the left, but at this point in my career, I want to be an impact player,” he said. “I don’t wanna be schemed out of games. I want to be able to deliver the football in good field positions or take the football away. It wasn’t a good enough year for myself when it comes to that.”
Watt might be selling himself a little short when it comes to how many impact plays he made. It might have been a down year by his standards, but he still put up 11.5 sacks and forced a league-leading six fumbles. Despite opposing teams doing everything they could to neutralize him, Watt still managed to come up big when the Steelers needed him to more often than not.
However, if the Steelers want to finally win a playoff game, they’ll likely need Watt to be even better. Not all of the responsibility should fall on him, but with his reputation, much of it does.
We’ll have to wait until next year to see how much, if at all, Watt moves around. That would likely come with Alex Highsmith or Nick Herbig moving around too, so perhaps it could give them a boost as well.
The Steelers will likely experiment more with the idea this offseason, and if they don’t use it during the season, that might be a sign that they didn’t feel like it was going to work. Whatever happens, the Steelers need to find a way to free Watt up more. He’s their best player, and they need him to be impactful.
