T.J. Watt Seems Ready To Move Around After ‘Getting A Little Grumpy’ About Chips, Kaboly Says

Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt just had one of the best “down” years in NFL history. He “only” recorded 11.5 sacks last season, his lowest total while healthy since his rookie year. Of course, he also forced six fumbles and had 19 tackles for loss, but only sacks matter to some people.

They do matter, of course, and Watt knows the Steelers need more of them. He also knows he is the one who has to go get them. While they have Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig, he is the elite game wrecker. That is what he wants to do, by his own admission. He wants to wreck games, but he hasn’t been able to as often lately. At the end of the season, he certainly seemed to realize that as Mark Kaboly pointed out.

“I find it interesting that he’s getting a little grumpy about all this chipping, all this two or three men on his side”, he said of the comments T.J. Watt made at the end of the season, talking on 93.7 The Fan. “He’s like, ‘I’m looking around the league and nobody else has to deal with this’”.

At the end of the season, Watt admitted 2024 was “a tough year” based on how opponents schemed against him. “I need to be more open to moving around more and trying to affect games as much as possible”, he added. He also admitted, though it was no secret, that he doesn’t like moving.

“It seems like he’s getting to that point where something needs to happen”, Kaboly said of Watt. “Move him around, scheme him up rather than just say, ‘He is the best player on the field. He can handle the chip. He can handle the back. He can handle people lined up outside. He can handle forcing him out wide’”.

There is no one party at fault, of course. T.J. Watt might not want to move around, but the Steelers aren’t moving him. I’m sure he will flip to the other side if Mike Tomlin tells him to. The Steelers did move their edge rushers a little last season, but not extensively. And not as much as they seemed to imply they would.

“Some of it has to do with [the fact that Watt] didn’t want to” move”, Kaboly said. “But I think even he’s coming around saying, ‘This needs to happen now’”.

At the start of December, Watt said the Steelers were “dipping our toe in the water” moving their rushers around. But then they didn’t really follow it up over the final stretch of the season. If the Steelers are going to put that plan in place, it’s going to have to happen this offseason.

Of course, just moving players around doesn’t magically solve problems. A number of other top pass rushers move around a fair bit, but others do not. T.J. Watt attracts as much attention from offenses as any of them, though. Any effort they can make to free him up a bit could help considerably.