Steelers star T.J. Watt is ‘not satisfied’ by personal accolades

T.J. Watt #90 of the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
T.J. Watt #90 of the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

T.J. Watt is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, but he’s ‘not satisfied’ by his achievements. The Pittsburgh Steelers star wants a Super Bowl ring.

Four Pro Bowl appearances in his first five NFL seasons? It means nothing. Three First-Team All-Pro honors in consecutive years? Who cares. AP Defensive Player of the Year award winner last season? So what?

This is the mentality that Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt seems to have when mentioning his personal accolades. To most other NFL players, Watt has already accomplished everything they could dream about. However, he’s not like most players.

During Steelers OTAs, Watt was asked by team reporters if it felt like year six for him already. Here’s how he responded, according to the Pittsburgh Steelers official YouTube account:

"I still feel great. I feel like my best football is ahead of me, so I’m very excited for this season… Just continue to work. There are so many areas I feel like I can improve, just in the weight room and all offseason when I’m here just finding little details to continue to work on. I’m not satisfied; I really am not, and I feel like this group can be really successful when we are all clicking. I think that’s what this time of year is all about."

Watt made it abundantly clear that he’s not satisfied simply because of his impressive personal achievements. He feels like there are plenty of areas in which he can improve moving forward and noted that he needs to continue to work on the little details of the game.

After the defense collectively struggled during the 2021 season, Watt feels like the Steelers can have one of the best defensive units in the NFL again. More than that, however, Watt isn’t going to be satisfied until he wins a Super Bowl:

"There’s an understanding where it doesn’t matter if I can bench press five hundred pounds if I can’t rush the passer, so it’s all about making myself the best football player I can be so I can perform for my team… I mean, the number one goal has always been a Super Bowl and that’s not changing. That’s the goal that hasn’t been attained."

This is the response that every Steelers fan wants to hear, and you can tell that he genuinely means it. But it’s not Watt who hasn’t been holding up his end of the bargain, it’s the rest of the team.

Watt needs more help from his Steelers teammates

In order for a Super Bowl victory to be attainable during his NFL career, Watt simply needs to get more help from his teammates moving forward. Despite being one of the top defensive players in the league each of the past three seasons, his impact on the field can only get them so far.

Over this span, Watt has been aided by some impressive play from Cameron Heyward, while Minkah Fitzpatrick had two really good seasons in 2019 and 2020. As a group, however, others need to step up on both sides of the ball.

So far, it looks like the Steelers swung and missed when they traded up for Devin Bush. Having a great, young linebacker in the middle of Pittsburgh’s defense could have made a big difference. Likewise, the absence of Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu hurt the defensive line last year.

Offensively, we hope for brighter days in the future, as Pittsburgh’s once stellar offense has plummeted towards the bottom in recent years. While the Steelers have a number of promising, young-skill players, the offensive line still has a lot to prove.

In reality, Watt’s chances of obtaining his long-desired Super Bowl ring likely hinge on how successful Kenny Pickett can be in the NFL. In today’s game, it’s incredibly difficult to win a Super Bowl without a competent quarterback, and nobody will be rooting harder for his success than T.J. Watt.

If Pickett can be the ‘franchise guy’ while Watt is still playing at an elite level, this team could be Super Bowl-bound in the not-too-distant future. One thing is very clear: T.J. Watt is not satisfied with his personal accomplishments so far and he’s going to do everything in his power to bring the city of Pittsburgh its seventh Lombardi Trophy.

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