TJ Watt Ready to Become a Steelers Leader

Pittsburgh Steelers OLB TJ Watt believes he’s ready to come into his own as a leader in the locker room.

TJ Watt enters his third campaign coming off the back of a Pro Bowl selection in his second season.

He recorded 13 sacks last season on his way to Pro Bowl recognition. That led the Pittsburgh Steelers, as did his 12 tackles for loss and 21 quarterback hits.

TJ Watt thinks that his third season is the ideal time to start making more of a ‘splash’.

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“Early on, you just don’t want to make a mistake,” Watt said.

“And you get into Year 2, and you kind of take more chances. Then, in Year 3, you can try to take a lot more chances and try to make more splash.

“It’s just a gradual kind of feeling-out process of where you are in your [peer] group,” said Watt.

“You can’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I’m going to be a leader. I’m going to start talking.’ I think it’s over time. It’s earning respect just being a hard worker and doing all the little things right. And you kind of feel out where you are. And if you want to start talking and guys start responding, you just kind of keep going with it.”

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“It’s fun because I am still new to this,” he said.

“[Two] years ago, I was in a lot of the rookies’ shoes, a lot of the free agent guys’ shoes and stuff. Just being able to pass on any type of knowledge I can. I’m not going to hold anything in. I want to help continue to let guys grow.”

TJ Watt will turn 25 in October. By then, he may have established himself as one of the senior Pittsburgh Steeler players.