PITTSBURGH _ For a few brief minutes Monday afternoon in the Steelers locker room, T.J. Watt appeared to let some of the sting wear off from Sunday's season-ending loss in Baltimore.
As usual, he was challenging teammates and beating them in Binho, a table-top game that simulates soccer by flicking a marble from one side of the board to the other. Think foosball, but with your fingers. Watt owns the game and, most of the time, the bragging rights on the South Side.
"It was decent, it was decent," said Watt as he appraised his performance on locker clean-out day, mustering a half-chuckle. "Better than some days."
On the real field, too, individual success hasn't eluded Watt. But you'll have to forgive him if he's not much in the mood these days to reflect on his breakout season or his NFL Defensive Player of the Year credentials, those being the 14.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles and two interceptions as the catalyst for a defense that kept the 2019 season afloat.
For Watt, all those big numbers and statistics that lead either the team or the league simply feel hollow when he looks at an 8-8 record and back-to-back winters without postseason football.
"Of course," he said. "We didn't do what we wanted to do. It's very unfortunate we're in this situation again like we were last year. Back to work we go."
But first, Watt will allow himself some time to "relax and unwind." That means spending time with his girlfriend, friends and family back home in Wisconsin, maybe attending oldest brother J.J. Watt's first-round playoff matchup Saturday against Buffalo in Houston.
Watt will probably even dive into the personal achievements of his team MVP campaign at some point, but only as a means to finding the next level of his game _ hard as that is to imagine. You also won't find him making his own case for the league's highest defensive honor, which will be handed out the night before the Super Bowl, a week after Watt plays in his second Pro Bowl.
"I don't know, I'm not for self-advocating," he said. "I'm not going to come out here and say I should be this or I should be that. I put everything I had into the season and I would've loved to make a lot more plays. I think that's the hardest part when you end a season, you go back and look at all the plays you could've made, you were so close. I just tried to do my best to help this team win games. I think individually and collectively, it wasn't enough, and we just have to find ways to be better this offseason, start fresh next year."
The most pressing question surrounding the Steelers defense at this point is whether they'll start fresh with Watt and a new running mate on the opposite side of the pass rush or bring back Bud Dupree.
Coach Mike Tomlin called re-signing Dupree "a priority" Tuesday, but Watt hasn't spent much time thinking about whether his fellow starting outside linebacker will be back in a Steelers uniform.
"No, not really," Watt said. "The season just ended (Sunday), so I'm just trying to process not being in the playoffs more than anything."
In the event that Dupree hits free agency, in-house candidates to replace him are few and far between. Top backup Anthony Chickillo could be a salary cap casualty, given his back-loaded two-year contract. Next up would be Ola Adeniyi, who played even less than Chickillo behind Watt and Dupree, or Tuzar Skipper, who was never active in his six games on the 53-man roster.
The Steelers could choose to draft a new edge-rusher, but they'd likely need to use their first pick, in the second round, to have any chance at finding an instant starter. There's always the open market, too, but finding _ or developing _ a "next man up" in-house if Dupree leaves would be ideal for many reasons.
"I feel like I kind of got lost a little bit in the shuffle," said Adeniyi, who played just 62 snaps on defense after missing the final three preseason games with a knee injury. "Next year's a new year, and I'll come back harder."
Monday, Adeniyi was going around the locker room having the other linebackers autograph a football for him, so that he can always remember a unit that might never be together again. Dupree was the last to sign.
"Nowadays, you see every team has that duo of pass-rushers," Adeniyi said. "I feel like T.J. and Bud were just starting to come into their own. If he's not here next year, I feel like it'll be a big loss, but that's part of the business."
