Halicke: Watts just might be a viable candidate at slot cornerback

It's been a few years since the Steelers have had a good slot cornerback, pretty much ever since Mike Hilton chose orange and black over black and gold in 2021. And in today's NFL, the slot cornerback position is more valuable than it's ever been.

The Steelers have a few options right now, including sixth-round pick Ryan Watts.

Watts is a fascinating prospect. Obviously, he's a sixth-round pick, so it's not like we can all assume that Watts can come in with expectations to start right away or anything. Even higher-profile prospects such as Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr. had to earn their spots last season.

But, Watts possesses some outstanding size and length, standing 6-3 and weighing in at 208 pounds at the NFL Combine. He was also measured to have 34 1/2-inch arms, which is a half-inch longer than Porter. Coaches can't teach that stuff.

In addition, Watts is a standout athlete. He recorded a 40 1/2-inch vertical and 10-foot-5 broad jump at the Combine, both of which are elite marks. He only ran a 4.53 40-yard dash, which ranked in the 36th percentile among cornerbacks in this year's class. But, despite not having top-end speed, Watts possesses enough athleticism, size and length to make him a prospect worthy of a draft selection.

And, despite some scouting reports harping on Watts' footwork and twitch, he looked awfully smooth running drills at the Combine:

As we all know, measurables are only that. There's a lot more that goes into being a football player that can make it at the highest level. That's where Watts becomes much more of a project and where he seems to be limited to certain positions at the NFL level.

Watts played outside cornerback almost exclusively throughout his college career at Ohio State and Texas. Of his 1,343 college snaps, Watts lined up on the outside for 1,126 of them. In 31 college games, Watts recorded 100 tackles, five tackles for loss, three interceptions and six passes defensed. Considering 24 of those 31 games came with Texas over the past two seasons, that productivity is a good find in the latter stages of the draft.

But, some of the deeper coverage numbers reveal some inadequacies in his game. One number that really stands out is Watts allowing a 95.1 NFL passer rating against when he's targeted, according to Pro Football Focus. And, it's not like those numbers got better as he got older. Last season was his worst as quarterbacks registered a 125.2 NFL passer rating against. On 34 targets against, Watts allowed 25 catches for 435 yards, an average of 17.4 yards, and one touchdown.

Watts didn't put up good tape in press man coverage. Take a look at this rep against first-round pick Rome Odunze and you can see some of the struggles Watts has when lining up in press:

First off, Watts is not combative at the snap. Odunze gets a free release to the outside, which makes this go route a straight up foot race. Watts can't afford to do those things at the NFL level. He'll get cooked way more often than not. He doesn't have the straight up foot speed to keep up with these receivers. 

For context, Porter also lacks elite speed but makes up for these things with a great ability to disrupt receivers at the release. Porter is also very patient with his technique, which allows him to better stick with receivers while playing press man.

In addition, Watts doesn't anticipate this throw very well, getting his head around far too late as Odunze makes an uncontested catch, even though Watts manages to stick with him. Now, Odunze does a great job of having late hands. Cornerbacks are taught at a young age to react to the receivers' hands. When the receiver puts his hands up to receive the pass, typically the cornerback has enough time to whip his head around, locate the ball and have a chance to make a play on it. Receivers are using this late-hands technique more and more frequently, which is forcing defensive backs to find other ways to anticipate throws.

This one rep is obviously not enough to condemn Watts, but it does embody some of the knocks on him coming out of college. Even with the elite size and length, it's not enough to make him a surefire option outside, especially when you also consider that Steelers' outside cornerbacks play more man coverage than zone coverage in the current system.

But, Watts' anticipation gets much better when he's able to read the quarterback's eyes while playing zone coverage. This rep against Alabama is a great example:

Here, Watts has his eyes locked in on the quarterback. And since he runs with receiver down the field, it means Watts is responsible for the area along the sideline, most likely in either Cover 3 or Cover 4. Because Watts is able to react off the quarterback instead of being out on an island against the receiver, he's able to better anticipate the throw and he's able to make a play on the ball.

Taking all of this into account, Watts profiles much better as a slot cornerback or safety. And since the Steelers are set at safety with Minkah Fitzpatrick, DeShon Elliott and Damontae Kazee, Watts stands a much better chance of making this roster as a slot cornerback.

Watts certainly has the size to survive the beating of playing inside. In addition, Watts is a superb tackler. Over the course of his college career, Watts missed only 9.3% of his tackle opportunities, according to PFF, and he's coming off a season in which he missed only 2.5%.

Just look at the closing speed here. It's because Watts stands a much better chance of reading and reacting off the quarterback. As soon as the quarterback begins his throwing motion, Watts is already a heat-seeking missile locked onto his target. And, he lays the boom with a massive hit.

Even though he only registered one sack during his collegiate career, Watts also possesses the traits a slot cornerback needs to blitz the quarterback:

Texas didn't ask Watts to blitz that often, especially last season. He logged only 24 pass-rushing snaps in college, not even one per game. He still registered seven pressures on those snaps. When Hilton played with the Steelers, he averaged 4.6 pass-rushing snaps per game. Hilton registered 43 pressures on 274 pass-rushing snaps, which equals a 15.7% win rate. Watts' win rate in college was 29.2%. 

The bottom line is to not let one sack in college fool you into thinking Watts can't get after the quarterback. Should Watts line up as a slot cornerback, he stands a much better chance of being asked to blitz the quarterback far more often.

One reason the Steelers like Watts is his ability to play multiple positions on defense, so I'd expect to see Watts line up in various spots throughout OTAs, minicamp and training camp. But, based on his strengths and weaknesses in coverage and his ability to tackle, Watts could be an intriguing name to watch as the Steelers seek to fill the slot cornerback role, which is a current need on the roster.