Steelers don’t get a shot to select T.J. Watt in total NFL re-draft

Where would Defensive Player of the Year, T.J. Watt, go in a total NFL re-draft? Apparently high enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers to miss out on him. 

One of my favorite football hypotheticals is re-drafting the entire NFL. While we will never see a scenario where every NFL player is thrown into a pool and all 32 teams re-draft their entire roster, it’s one that I often fantasize about.

Recently, Chad Reuter of NFL.com took a stab at what the first round of a total NFL re-draft would look like. For this particular re-draft, Reuter was not looking long-term. Rather, he re-drafted the league only for the upcoming 2022 season. In other words, a player’s age doesn’t matter nearly as much. Reuter also used the same draft order from the recent 2022 NFL Draft.

As you can imagine, many quarterbacks were selected early — nine in a row to begin the draft, to be exact. Players like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Justin Herbert flew off the board to open things up.

The first non-quarterback was Aaron Donald with the 10th overall selection. As the Pittsburgh Steelers were on deck, Reuter had T.J. Watt going one pick before them to the Philidelphia Eagles with the 19th overall selection. Here’s what he had to say:

"Watt’s generally known as a stand-up rusher but he’s become quite adept at winning from a three-point stance. The Eagles should not pass on his value."

As a result of Watt being unavailable, Reuter had the Steelers going with 49ers All-Pro offensive tackle, Trent Williams. Though he is now 34 years old, Williams would be an excellent pick in a one-year re-draft — considering that all of the respectable quarterbacks are off the board at this point.

Should Steelers star go even higher in an NFL re-draft?

Reuter’s total NFL re-draft for the 2022 season is interesting as it consists of 6 non-quarterbacks being selected ahead of T.J. Watt. These include Aaron Donald, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Myles Garrett, Jalen Ramsey, and Cooper Kupp.

While I can’t say that I agree with all of these names being selected ahead of the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, it’s particularly interesting that Garrett went three picks higher.

Myles Garrett is a superstar in his own right. However, it’s hard to argue that he’s been the better player over the past three seasons. In addition to trouncing him in every single statistical department, Watt is a more well-rounded player in terms of his ability to stop the run, rush the quarterback, and create more splash plays.

However, Reuter isn’t the only one who believes that Garrett is going to have a better year than Watt in 2022. Most oddsmakers currently have Garrett as the favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2022, with Watt coming in a close second.

Despite dealing with injuries last season, Watt was excellent and his value to his team was unmatched by any defensive player, in my opinion. When he was truly healthy and not dealing with a hip, knee, or groin issue, there might not have been a non-quarterback who was more important to his team last year.

The curiosity in me would love to see a total NFL re-draft, as this would be the biggest (and probably most-watched) event in sports history. However, I would fear that the Steelers might not be able to get T.J. Watt back if they owned the 20th overall pick.