Key To Steelers' Defense In 2025 Revealed After Massive TJ Watt Extension

The Pittsburgh Steelers just gave star pass rusher TJ Watt a massive contract, so they are expecting him to get back to his generational form. An 11.5-sack season is nice, but not when the expectation is to be at or near the very top of the league in that stat. Not every player gets the most average salary per year (APY) by a non-quarterback, and Pittsburgh doesn't just give out guaranteed money, so the face of the franchise is expected to have a better year in the 2025 campaign. 

While making an appearance on Sportsline with George Von Benko, insider Ray Fittipaldo brought up Watt's previous message about needing to switch sides at times to throw opposing offenses off a bit.

"TJ talked about it on locker clean-out day. He acknowledged that he and the coaches had to start doing something different," Fittipaldo said. "What he was talking about was moving around the defense, not just playing left outside linebacker. He said he's open to playing on the right side more. He's always been deferential to Alex Highsmith because that's where Alex plays."

For the most part, Watt played on the left side, and opposing offenses would chip him to knock him off his route. That was a big reason for the defensive collapse at the end of the 2024 season. Watt has always carried the defense, as his ability to get pressure and force sacks would lead to the secondary getting more chances to intercept passes, as well as other defensive linemen being freed up one-on-one to make their own splash plays. 

Fittipaldo continued on, but he mentioned that switching sides would not be enough to make life hard on quarterbacks and linemen before each snap.

"He said he's going to be open to moving to the right side and moving around the defense," Fittipaldo said. "The Steelers have to figure out a way to get him away from double teams, chips by tight ends, chips by running backs; and if they can do that, I think you'll see his sack numbers go up again."

As Fittipaldo and host George Von Benko talked about afterwards, quarterbacks can still shift the protection to Watt's side if he just lines up in Alex Highsmith's usual spot. The Steelers actually need to be creative with Watt to get the bets usage out of him. In previous years, he has lined up between the defensive tackles as a stand-up middle linebacker. They may go to that again if needed. 

Steelers' Potential Plans For TJ Watt

Fittipaldo also brought up the idea of a "muddle huddle," where Watt and Highsmith stand in the middle of the field and wait until the opposing offense gets line up before going to their spots, whether it's outside linebacker or more of a middle linebacker-like role. The idea there would be to make it so quarterbacks can't make adjustments immediately at the line of scrimmage, and they have to actually watch what's going on before making a decision. 

Back in 2024, the Steelers spoke about using three-edge-rusher personnel to try and get Nick Herbig more involved. With Watt potentially being more versatile and moving around the defense more, that could open up more opportunities for him and rookie Jack Sawyer to get some playing time. In fact, Herbig was seen as a potential depth piece in the middle during the draft process, so he and Watt could move around together with their versatility. 

At the end of the day, the Steelers can't just keep lining Watt up in the same spot and expect him to do damage when every team's entire offensive gameplan is about doing everything they can to slow him down. No one got chipped more than Watt in 2024, and that's because that strategy successfully shut him down for most of the second half of the season. Something has to change, or else the face of the franchise will struggle to ever hit double digit sack totals.

What do you think about Watt playing all over the defense to get him back to peak form? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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