5 players besides Ben Roethlisberger the Steelers can’t afford to lose in 2020
T.J. Watt
It goes without saying that a team can never lose one of its best players without severely hindering their performance. That is of course the case with superstar edge rusher, T.J. Watt.
His play has gotten better each year of his short career so far as he has amassed a whopping 15 forced fumbles, 34.5 sacks, 36 tackles for loss, and 70 QB hits since his rookie season. He started as a rookie after a great camp and preseason and never looked back.
His rise to stardom is not lost on his teammates and coaches. They all realize they have a superstar player with a game-wrecking ability on their side and it elevates those around him on both sides of the ball.
Perhaps the person it helps the most is Bud Dupree. Dupree broke out last season and I do not doubt that being across from Watt helped him really elevate himself. Having a rusher of Watt’s caliber across from him opened things up for Dupree and the rest of the defense as well as they recorded this stat in 2020:
The Steelers were the only team to have 4 players with 40+ pressures in 2019
— PFF PIT Steelers (@PFF_Steelers) July 22, 2020
➤ T.J. Watt - 70
➤ Cameron Heyward - 51
➤ Bud Dupree - 46
➤ Javon Hargrave - 43 pic.twitter.com/kj2qrNnvj2
Watt leading the charge in this is more proof the Steelers cannot afford to lose the DPOY candidate at any point. He has shown to be pretty durable in his first three seasons week in and week out.