Steelers FB Derek Watt really seems like an insurance policy for T.J. Watt

The Steelers forked up a lot of money for a fullback this offseason. Here’s why Derek Watt sure seems like an insurance policy for his little brother.

The fullback is the most rapidly dying position in the NFL. With teams running so much ’11’ personnel and even empty-back sets, the lead blocker from the backfield has fallen by the wayside. While the Steelers may have paid top dollar for fullback Derek Watt this past offseason, they’ve made no effort to make him an intricate part of the offense.

Much of this has to do with the time he has missed with a lingering hamstring injury. Watt missed Pittsburgh’s Week 5 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. Though he came back in Week 6 to play against the Cleveland Browns, he missed three straight games before returning to the field against the Cincinnati Bengals last week.

Obviously, missing 5 of 9 possible games so far is going to have an impact on what you do when you are on the field. But it’s more than just that: Derek Watt has hardly been given a chance with the offense.

Over his 5 games played this year, Watt has logged between just 4-8 snaps in each contest, according to Pro Football Reference. That’s very little for the second-highest paid fullback in the National Football League. In comparison, Kyle Juszczyk, the 49ers fullback, has already received 279 offensive snaps in his first 10 contests – nearly 28 snaps per game.

Did Steelers have a plan all along?

Even when Watt was fully healthy, they didn’t give him more than a few offensive snaps per game, and the Steelers really aren’t a team to run a lot of ’21’ or ’22’ personnel groupings. But why would they sign a fullback for $3.25 million per season?

According to Over the Cap, out of 32 NFL teams, there are currently only 21 fullbacks employed in the NFL. Because some teams carry more than one, just 17 teams are currently rostering a fullback. Of these fullbacks, the majority of them make between $142K and $769K in annual yearly earnings.

Additionally, Watt has never earned as much as an above-average season grade over his first four years in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. So did the Steelers just overpay for the last name? Perhaps they had something else in mind.

As you probably are well aware, star edge defender, T.J. Watt, will soon require a lucrative new contract – one that could potentially make him the highest-paid edge defender in the NFL. And why not? He’s been nothing short of spectacular for the Steelers in his first three-and-a-half years and is currently on a Hall-of-Fame pace. Is it plausible to think that maybe the singing of his big brother would give T.J. added incentive to stick around in Pittsburgh for the long haul – maybe even at a bit of a team-friendly deal?

If the Steelers really did plan things out this way, kudos to them for thinking outside the box; however, it’s unlikely that they ever thought that deep into the signing of Derek Watt. Randy Fichtner recently said he would like to get Watt involved more on offense. It’s going to be hard to justify his high salary, but we are hopeful that the fullback can start making an impact on this team soon.