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ESPN projects former Wisconsin Badger T.J. Watt to start declining in 2025 with Pittsburgh Steelers

ESPN's stat projections for Watt has his sack and tackle numbers declining for the Steelers in 2025 as trade rumors swirl around him.
Lorin Cox|
Dec 25, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) takes the field against the Kansas City Chiefs at Acrisure Stadium.
Dec 25, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) takes the field against the Kansas City Chiefs at Acrisure Stadium. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

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Wisconsin Badgers

Former Wisconsin Badgers first-round pick T.J. Watt has made the Pro Bowl in each of the last seven seasons, with double-digit sacks in every year he's stayed healthy.

His reign of dominance in the NFL could start to decline in 2025, though, at least according to the latest projections from ESPN.

NFL analyst Mike Clay puts together stat projections every year for every player on every team, and he foresees Watt's production starting to decrease this season for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He has Watt finishing with 60 tackles and 10 sacks on 914 snaps this season.

That's on pace with the normal amount of playing time he sees in a healthy year, but it would be the fewest sacks for Watt in a full season since his rookie year of 2017 and his fewest total tackles since 2020.

He ended last season a little slow, with no sacks, no turnovers and just one tackle for loss over the Steelers' final three games.

Watt turns 31 later this year, so it's reasonable to expect that a decline will come at some point. And Pittsburgh used a fourth-round pick on Ohio State edge rusher Jack Sawyer, so the team has more options to rotate in.

That has helped fuel speculation of a potential trade as he enters the final year of his current contract.

But keeping Watt fresh with more bodies at outside linebacker should only help him stay efficient as a pass rusher and keep his sack total high.

As long as he's healthy, he shouldn't be overlooked by an opponent or prognosticator.

He deserves the benefit of the doubt to still expect greatness until he shows real reason to believe otherwise.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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