Steelers' Mike Tomlin Saw TJ Watt's Fierce Competitive Streak Before 2017 Draft And Avoided JJ Talk

The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent nearly a decade benefiting from a decision that began with much more than scouting reports and impressive workout numbers. Before investing a first-round pick in one of the NFL's most recognizable football families, the organization needed to understand what made its youngest star tick. A dinner before Wisconsin's pro day provided an answer that Pittsburgh's former head coach still remembers vividly. The most revealing part might have been the subject he deliberately chose not to bring up.

Former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin revealed that he recognized an unusual competitive edge in TJ Watt before Pittsburgh selected him in the 2017 NFL Draft. During a recent appearance on Coach2Coach, Tomlin recalled taking Watt to dinner ahead of Wisconsin's pro day and immediately sensing something familiar about the young defender's mentality.

The former coach described Watt as an angry younger brother whose motivation came partly from growing up alongside someone who had already reached the highest level of professional football.

“TJ is an angry little brother… I go to his pro day and I take him out to dinner the night before his pro day and I was like, man, there’s an underlying rage here that is familiar and attractive… I didn’t ask him about his brother because I knew better, because again, I could relate to that,” Tomlin said.

That brother, of course, is JJ Watt, who had already won three NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards before Pittsburgh drafted TJ. By 2017, the older Watt had established himself as one of the league's most dominant defensive players, giving his younger sibling a rather ridiculous standard to chase before playing his first professional snap.

Tomlin apparently understood that bringing up those accomplishments over dinner would accomplish very little. Everybody already knew who JJ was. The more interesting question was whether TJ possessed the personality, work ethic and individual ambition to become something beyond the younger version of his famous brother.

There was a personal reason Tomlin recognized that attitude so quickly. He grew up with an accomplished older brother of his own. Ed Tomlin played football at Maryland and served as a team captain, while Mike followed his own path through William & Mary before eventually entering coaching. Their experiences were different from the Watts', but the younger-sibling mentality was familiar territory.

It also helps explain why Tomlin described the underlying anger as attractive. He wasn't suggesting Watt needed to dislike his brother or carry around some unresolved family dispute. The competitive frustration of constantly having someone else's accomplishments sitting directly in front of you can become a powerful source of motivation when it's channeled properly.

Pittsburgh had plenty of reasons to be interested in Watt beyond his last name. He finished his final season at Wisconsin with 11.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss after transitioning from tight end to outside linebacker. Two earlier knee injuries had interrupted his college development, leaving him with only one full season as a defensive starter before entering the draft.

That made his evaluation particularly interesting. Watt was still learning the position, but his motor, hand usage and ability to finish plays had already attracted considerable attention. Pittsburgh selected him 30th overall, believing there was considerably more development ahead.

The dinner was part of a broader scouting process involving Steelers personnel and Wisconsin representatives, but Tomlin's recollection offers something that wouldn't necessarily appear in a traditional scouting report. He was evaluating the person behind the physical tools.

The younger Watt had already spoken openly about wanting to establish his own identity. Following the draft, he acknowledged that people knew him as JJ's little brother without necessarily understanding the work he had put into becoming a professional prospect.

Nine years later, the results have made Pittsburgh's evaluation look pretty good. Watt won the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year award after recording 22.5 sacks, tying the NFL's single-season record. He became one of the defining defensive players of Tomlin's coaching tenure, and the relationship between the two developed well beyond that initial dinner.

Yet Tomlin believes the same competitive streak remained even after Watt reached the top of the sport himself.

“TJ wins Defensive Player of the Year, man. He’s like, ‘Yeah, whatever, man. My brother’s got three.’… I just think it creates a motor that is a special thing,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin was illustrating Watt's mentality, not establishing that the defender literally dismissed his award with those exact words. His point was that even an accomplishment most NFL players spend their entire careers chasing might not satisfy somebody measuring himself against a three-time winner.

Steelers Benefited From Understanding What Really Drives Watt

There is something fascinating about a player reaching the absolute peak of his profession and still having a built-in reminder that someone in his family has accomplished more. Most athletes would happily frame one Defensive Player of the Year award and call it a career highlight. Tomlin believes Watt's mindset makes that kind of satisfaction considerably harder to achieve.

My view is that Tomlin deserves real credit for recognizing the distinction during the draft process. Plenty of teams could have looked at TJ and seen JJ's athletic bloodlines. Pittsburgh identified a player who wanted desperately to establish his own reputation, and the organization gave him the opportunity to do it.

That mentality is still relevant as Watt continues his career under Mike McCarthy. He has already accomplished more than enough to secure his place among Pittsburgh's great defenders, but the same competitiveness Tomlin noticed in Wisconsin provides a reason to believe personal satisfaction won't arrive easily.

None of this means sibling rivalry automatically creates greatness. Watt still had to develop his technique, survive difficult NFL matchups and turn enormous expectations into production. Plenty of younger brothers are competitive without becoming Defensive Player of the Year.

Tomlin recognized something more specific: a talented young defender who had spent years watching greatness up close and had absolutely no interest in settling for being known as somebody else's little brother.

He never needed to ask about JJ at dinner. The younger Watt was already carrying that conversation around with him.

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