Last season was a mixed bag for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ pass rushers. T.J. Watt, fresh off tying the league record for sacks in a single season, lost seven games to injury. Meanwhile, teammates Alex Highsmith and Cameron Heyward stepped up with Highsmith getting a career-high 14.5 sacks and Heyward finishing with 10.5.
But none of this seemed to matter to Seth Walder at ESPN. He did his projections for sacks for the upcoming season, and he chose to shoot low for the Steelers’ top pass rushers — as well as the rest of the league, it would appear.
For Watt, Walder has a projection of 11.1 sacks. If this happens, it would be his worst season since he was a rookie. For Highsmith, who got a contract extension this offseason, Walder has a projection of 9.4, which is a huge dropoff from last season. Heyward has had back-to-back seasons with more than 10 sacks, but Walder’s projection for him this season is only 6.0 sacks.
It is hard to imagine any of these projections being accurate when it is all said and done. If this were an over/under situation, I’ll take the over for all three players.
