Leading up to the Pittsburgh Steelers first game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, all of the attention has been on star pass rusher, Nick Bosa. Bosa was recently in the thick of a contract dispute that resulted in him holding out during training camp and the preseason. Just when it started to look like his status for Week 1 was in jeopardy, the 49ers star inked his new deal.
After putting pen to paper and becoming the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history, there is no doubt that Bosa is going to suit up and play against the Steelers in Week 1. It's naive to believe that he won't make an impact either. This is a huge win for the 49ers.
Bosa is coming off a remarkable 2022 season in which he led the NFL with 18.5 sacks and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors after the 49ers finished with the top-ranked scoring defense in the NFL. San Francisco will now have their best player available to them in a big game against Pittsburgh this week.
Bosa certainly has the ability to be a game-wrecker, and the Steelers will have to account for him... but for as much attention as the Bosa situation has earned in recent weeks, don't forget that the Steelers have a 'Nick Bosa' of their own in T.J. Watt.
T.J. Watt could one-up Nick Bosa in Steelers vs. 49ers game
Nick Bosa's situation is very similar to that of T.J. Watt's from 2021. Just before the start of the 2021 season, Watt marched into the Steelers facility and inked his deal. Despite not participating during team sessions at training camp and missing the entire 2021 preseason, Watt exploded for a monster game in Week 1 against the Bills -- holding Buffalo to just 16 points while securing 2.0 sacks and 5 QB hits in the win, per Pro Football Reference.
Bosa is certainly talented enough to have a similar impact in his first game back despite missing all summer action with his team this year. But that doesn't mean that Watt can't one-up him in this contest.
Bosa is an ambidextrous pass rusher -- meaning he will rush from both sides and have matchups against offensive tackles Dan Moore and Chukwuma Okorafor. The Steelers will certainly have to account for wherever he is on the field.
At the same time, you can bet that Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers will be accounting for Watt on each and every play. While Watt will only rush from the left edge, he will have a very favorable matchup against right tackle, Colton McKivitz. The inexperienced offensive tackle has just 5 starts in his three-year NFL career -- most of which came as a rookie. McKivitz played a total of just 68 snaps as a swing offensive lineman last year.
Though Watt obviously won't be going directly against Nick Bosa, he knows that this is a matchup that features two of the best defensive players in the league, and he's not about to be outdone by the younger (and now richer) Defensive Player of the Year.
The 49ers can have Nick Bosa for Week 1 against the Steelers. We've got T.J. Watt.