TJ Watt Sack Count

[Oviedo]

Serious question here. How can someone like Jarvis Jones, who was touted as he was to be a sack master, playing the same position in the highly competitive SEC - come in here and seemingly never have clue, washout! Then, you have a guy like T.J. Watt, who has only been playing the position for a short period of time, supposedly undersized for the position, never really heard too much about him up until the draft. He comes in and shown more acumen for the position and actually made plays to make you think that he "gets it!" What gives, did they put T.J. in better positions to make plays or what?

Because the former was slow and lacked quickness and likely wasn't as strong as Watt. Pretty much deficient in all areas.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Serious question here. How can someone like Jarvis Jones, who was touted as he was to be a sack master, playing the same position in the highly competitive SEC - come in here and seemingly never have clue, washout! Then, you have a guy like T.J. Watt, who has only been playing the position for a short period of time, supposedly undersized for the position, never really heard too much about him up until the draft. He comes in and shown more acumen for the position and actually made plays to make you think that he "gets it!" What gives, did they put T.J. in better positions to make plays or what?

Watt is simply a way better athlete than Jones. In spite of being 2 inches taller and 7 pounds heavier than Jones, Watt was able to run nearly 2 tenths of a second faster in the 40 (4.69 vs. 4.88 ), vertical jump 6.5" higher (37" vs. 30.5"), broad jump nearly a foot and a half farther (10'8" vs. 9'3"), and run the short shuttle 58 hundredths of a second faster (4.13 vs. 4.71). These measureables help to demonstrate an athlete's explosiveness and lateral agility, which tend to be important attributes for a pass rusher. Plus he has a couple of brothers already in the NFL who helped him to prepare so he didn't walk into his first training camp like a typical wide-eyed rookie. And based on his lack of experience playing defense, he is only going to get better as he gets more comfortable. Look out.

[williar]

Whatever the case may be, I am so happy that it looks like we might have found that pass rusher. What I am seeing is that extra hustle and non-stop motor that great pass rushers usually have. I am sure he has learned a lot from his brother JJ as well. I hope he keeps it up......

[feltdizz]

I will give his family credit. They probably helped him a ton with film and being game ready. Also, Jarvis was drafted in a very weak draft class.

While i I think Watt has looked better thus far let's not get ahead of ourselves... he hasn't bull rushed and sacked anyone yet. I hear he has moves and good hands and I think that was Jarvis's downfall. He couldn't get off blocks or power through tackles.

[phillyesq]

I will give his family credit. They probably helped him a ton with film and being game ready. Also, Jarvis was drafted in a very weak draft class.

While i I think Watt has looked better thus far let's not get ahead of ourselves... he hasn't bull rushed and sacked anyone yet. I hear he has moves and good hands and I think that was Jarvis's downfall. He couldn't get off blocks or power through tackles.

For whatever reason, Jarvis was able to bull rush Joe Thomas, one of the best tackles in the game, but absolutely nobody else. He occasionally flashed instincts but he never had the power.

To further what Ruthless was saying, TJ Watt had a Sparq score (based on combine numbers, it measures explosiveness/athleticism) that puts him in the 95th percentile of all NFL edge rushers. In other words, he is an elite athlete.

[Slapstick]

I will give his family credit. They probably helped him a ton with film and being game ready. Also, Jarvis was drafted in a very weak draft class. .

Yeah, that class of pass rushers was epically bad...the only one who did anything was Ziggy Ansah, and he didn't have a great year in 2016...Barkevious Mingo...Dion Jordan...ouch...

[phillyesq]

Yeah, that class of pass rushers was epically bad...the only one who did anything was Ziggy Ansah, and he didn't have a great year in 2016...Barkevious Mingo...Dion Jordan...ouch...

Very weak draft, with a ton of busts at the top. It was also an odd draft. The first half of the first round yielded only 2 pro bowlers - Ansah and Sheldon Richardson. There were 8 pro bowlers after the Steelers pick (although one, Cordarelle Patterson, was a return guy).