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Will Watt start early as a rookie?

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By all accounts, Watt has been very impressive in camp. Porter said he runs well, but others such as Heyward and Williams say he's unlike any rookie they have seen, and they are talking about the mental part of the game.

With Harrison being old, and no real proven guy beyond him, I expect Watt to start early in the season barring injury.
 
Harrison is not old, he is aging gracefully. He will play until he's 60!

btw, I agree with 81, He may not start the beginning of the season, but by the 2/3rds in, he very well may.
 
I don't think being the "starter" means what it did years ago. I think there will be early games where Watt is the "starter".

Harrison played ~56% of the snaps with Jones spelling him. Watt should, already, be better than Jones, so we can expect see Harrison's play time decrease which could, hopefully, keep him fresher throughout the season.
 
Coach said:
By all accounts, Watt has been very impressive in camp. Porter said he runs well, but others such as Heyward and Williams say he's unlike any rookie they have seen, and they are talking about the mental part of the game.

With Harrison being old, and no real proven guy beyond him, I expect Watt to start early in the season barring injury.
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All accounts ? When they really start hitting lets see what the accounts say then. My goal for him is to give Harrison a solid break at times with minimal drop in production...if we get that out of him this year I will be more than pleased
 
I don't see him starting unless Harrison gets hurt. The only other scenario is if father time does catch up with Harrison and he is really sucking bad and Watt is looking real good. Then, maybe they will start him over Harrison.
 
Coach said:
By all accounts, Watt has been very impressive in camp. Porter said he runs well, but others such as Heyward and Williams say he's unlike any rookie they have seen, and they are talking about the mental part of the game.

With Harrison being old, and no real proven guy beyond him, I expect Watt to start early in the season barring injury.
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practice in shorts.....means.....nothing. All the OTAs and minicamp are for learning the playbook and practicing technique. Training camp and preseason games is when you take stock in a rookie or FA ability. Optimism is nice, but realistically we haven''t seen nothing from no new player.
 
Watt will be starting after the bye IMO.
I think JJSS and Sutton will be starting mid-way through the season as well.
 
I wouldn't like to see Harrison getting more than 60% of the snaps, ideally would be 50-50. We need him fresh for the playoff push, that's when he gets in to Beast Mode, he should be called Mr January
 
If anyone can start out of the gates I think it is Watt.

But what is said about him from coaches and players, still needs to see a body of work in training camp and ultimately preseason.

Coaches will have a better feel one way or another come regular season game 1.

I see no reason why he can't, but it is a we will see............
 
Steelerfan81 said:
He isn't going to start. Harrison will be the starter all the season with Watt spelling him and coming in on third downs.
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This is pretty much how I see it.

Watt May start late in the season if we have the playoffs and Homefield sewn up.
 
Probably Harrisons final season. He will be the Starter. Watt may be in at the most crucial points depending on his progress. If he can outplay Harrison it is s good problem.
 
I think Watt will play a large percentage of downs as the season goes along. Can't predict any injuries to others as that always impacts playing time. Harrison will probably have his snaps monitored closely so they can keep him fresh toward the tail end of the year. My expectations are that Harrison's play will further decline due to father time. Nothing but respect and admiration for James, but we all know you can't win a fight with your body clock.

Watt is going to have to earn that playing time.
 
I hope Watt is starting early in the season, but it doesn't matter much as long as he is getting a significant number of sacks as the season progresses.
 
Depends on if we win the coin flip in the first game. If offense takes the field first he starts later and if its defense he starts earlier.
 
I think Watt sees considerable time from week 4 on.
 
Rookies in OTA's are ALWAYS penciled in as starters.

We know this. Jones was gonna start, and then tragedy struck. He sucked.
 
Not that I tell it to his face, but Harrison is very old ( age 39 currently ) by NFL standards, has little speed left, and gets by on power and toughness.

Once NFL players get near 40, they just do not recover physically as quickly from the minor to mid level injuries.

Harrison is best suited as a quality role player / mentor at his age, not a starter. Tomlin would be wise to hardly play him at all in the pre-season games, and let Watt learn early.
 
Watt will play as much as his efforts in practice show the coaches he deserves to play
 
First of all, I just want the kid to make it thru TRAINING CAMP unscathed...

Secondly, I remember a long while back we draft an OLB, whom, by all accounts was a passing-rushing demon at FSU and he became rock steady at ILB. I'm not saying that this will happen - I'm just saying, don't discount the kid's abilities to play INSIDE and push Vince to the bench and SUBSEQUENTLY, yes, become a starter at ILB before season's end...

Just another wild offseason comment.
 
bermudasteel said:
First of all, I just want the kid to make it thru TRAINING CAMP unscathed...

Secondly, I remember a long while back we draft an OLB, whom, by all accounts was a passing-rushing demon at FSU and he became rock steady at ILB. I'm not saying that this will happen - I'm just saying, don't discount the kid's abilities to play INSIDE and push Vince to the bench and SUBSEQUENTLY, yes, become a starter at ILB before season's end...

Just another wild offseason comment.
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I actually was thinking he could bump Mitchell to the bench...and he also could be our starting TE by mid season if given the reps and snaps possibly. This kid can do it all.
 
I would use debo sparingly if they can. We need him fresh for down the road so he can earhole Brady into next year.
 
stillwright said:
I actually was thinking he could bump Mitchell to the bench...and he also could be our starting TE by mid season if given the reps and snaps possibly. This kid can do it all.
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Yeah I really dont get ILB. The kid has defensive End body /arm length. He is made to rush the passer from the outside and get those long arms up on the quick sets. A lot of people live in a Madden world where tgey think you can just put all the highest rated guys on at once. Really it is a best case scenario. Harrison needs to play but not too much. Watt needs to play but not too much.
 
They sure threw Jarvis against the wall plenty of times as a rookie. I expect Watt will play a lot. With the steelers offense, there should have plenty of leads which means teams throwin to catch up and plenty of pass rush opportunities.

The only way i can see Watt not playing a lot of snaps is if somehow both Dupree and Chickillo (or somebody else besides Harrison) turn into stud pass rushers and Watt just isn't needed. Even if that did happen, i bet he'd still get significant snaps in a rotation.
 
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