Is Steelers 6th Round Pick DB Ryan Watts a Teammate or Replacement for Cory Trice Jr.?

what up piz steel fans m p here with another episode of Steels warm we are back we've had a lot of glue perspectives over the last few days it was so fun to do all that content with the channel white but we are back with another Steels warm to all the new Subs out there we've had a lot of Subs we've had over 50 Subs in the last sort of three or four weeks welcome to the channel if you're not a sub yet consider hitting that sub button then you can get all the notifications you know when we're doing our lives you'll get our posts as well with different things we've done some um sub uh based polls um as well and we've got a few things exciting that will happen once we hit the 500 sub Mark so consider supporting us with that sub button you're a sub you're liking a Content hit that like button it tells me the sorts of things you're really really enjoying all right so we are talking about Ryan wats I wanted this video for a while but we've had had to go through all the draft picks there have been some other narratives around some free agents and the wide receiver and a trade and cornerback and all this different stuff thought we do something different with the Jeremiah Moon video which I think's done pretty well for the channel um so if you're new To Us by the Jeremiah Moon CH video we welcome um but we are talking Ryan Watts the cornerback possibly safety out of Texas I am a longhorn fan um if you're new to the channel I do the Longhorns are actually the college team I support so I'm quite a well aware of who Ryan wats is I didn't mind him it was interesting when I heard that the Steels were in on him pre-draft um I thought that was kind of interesting um he is more he's very much a Cory TR Avatar Joey Porter Jr type so we're going to talk talk a little bit about that we're going to talk about we're going to recap Cory truss because technically we have not seen him play for the Steelers remember he got injured before the Steelers season um so we're going to look at Cory Tri Refresh on who he is look at who Ryan wats is and look at how they fit either fit in together or is there an odd man out situation let's get straight into it all right so let's talk about Corey tric ver fiveyear player of Purdue had a few injuries so he only played one game in his first in 2018 um he only played six games in 2020 um obviously that was the co year as well only played two games in 2021 but had a good year in 2022 and a good year in 2019 in 2022 that was his final year remember was picked in the 2023 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh round I think it was pick 232 off the top of my head um but Pi yeah round pick seven um was around 7 Pi 24 I think I think it was 232 it was off the top of my head anyway um so obviously picked out do 2022 bit of experience had two interceptions in his final year had three interceptions 2019 so when he was on the field and productive and he was able to actually when I say was productive he was able to get interception so in the two games that he in the two years he played more than 10 games he had minimum of two interceptions so that's pretty good he had 15 pass defenses 10 of those came in his last year for Purdue he had a really good season that year if he had been at a bigger college his draft stock would have been way higher you might have seen him go higher than where Ryan Watts went in a very good Texas team Ryan wats went six round 196 overall as the thumbnail of our video says but they're quite different players now Cory Tri played uh I I went through five pages of PFF because they didn't collate it um PFF the only way you can look at where people play college schnaps with but Cory TR played almost exclusively out like outside corner corner um versus a slot or a box player I think it was something like when I did the rough math it was like over 90% I think it was probably more like almost 95% was played he played um and he played over almost played almost 1500 snaps in college and most of that was yeah because I don't think you know Sports reference don't don't count those snaps but um which is Prof reference's College site but yeah he had about, 1500 snaps overall in college and like yeah as I say more than 1300 um of those were at the the the corner position which is a wide Corner Cory R coming out was given a 6.14 grade an NFL grade so Sixers are usually like a Backup Plus um they say potentially to be a starter really interesting player very athletic 6'3 to6 pounds um 32 and 38 in arms hand size of 93 quarters he was the 21st best combat um cornerback based on his overall combine rank he was 81 um he got an 81 athleticism score so was the 11th best on athleticism but his college production score is where he fell down from the pack um if you look at him though 4.4 47 40 yard Ash time really they projected him to go around four to five so getting around seven was considered a steel we're all really high on it I was really high I thought he'd be around five or six guy at worst he was on my top 70 players the Steelers to draft um across the three days in 2023 so I was really happy to see him picked um you know his pluses obviously his size and athleticism capable of forcing rerouting from the receiver he's according his draft profile as you can see on the screen in front of you he was really good at shedding blocks um he can use his size Advantage really well he's quick twitch for a big guy um but at the same time his weaknesses were plays too tall for clean route phase below average long speed his hip is his hips kind of gave away where he was going which causes issues in man coverage had clunky hips as well these are things you usually associate with a big bloke um too um technique could be a little bit Troublesome with downfield throws um and below average field aggression as a run supporter considering his size so kind of interesting and that's the thing he is about when him playing wide not playing the Box these are obviously things that were seen at the college level if we go to Ryan Watts right let's look at what he his production and his profile before we look at the two against each other so with Ryan Watts he played at Ohio State he played um at the Texas Longhorns he had three interceptions overall he had none last year was using a variety of roles in the secondary um for the LGH horns he have three pass defenses so he comes in with three interceptions versus Cory tric five he comes in with six pass defenses but he is more of a guy that's going to come into the box he's more of a guy that's going to be a big hit guy he wasn't the starting corner for them um you know Purdue really did Lion Cory Tri a lot um when he was able to play and was available um Ryan wats has played a lot more games he's a versatile guy um you know Big G from the pump your brakes procast that Shannon does with him he was like the highest that ran that kid out of town I think that Ryan watts is going to best still agree um with what I said on draft day which I'll repeat later on in the show but I think there's a different lens that you've got to look at Ryan wats with Cory TR but anyway that was his production in overall in college three interceptions six pass defenses doesn't seem like much had a 4.53 40 yard dash time he had a he was the 26 best cornerback um but he was the 11th best in terms of athleticism exactly the same as Cory TR he's two pounds heavy than Cory's TR he's the same height as Corey TR he has a bigger arm by over an inch and a half or an inch and a quarter sorry bigger arm size he's got a similar hand size he did get given a lower rating as an average backup of special teamer according to his draft profile but athletically he's very much a similar similar situation he's only 060 different in 40 yard dash time and I think he ran faster at his pro day as well um he was predicted to go around six to7 that is where he went they talked about his again lanine said he's had outstanding size with rare length traits and experience to transition to safety that's a key thing for us to note cable lining up over slot tight ends again very key trait to note a booming Striker once he locks in h down he he is a very forceful tackle tackler for a cornerback Works around our through blockers with his run support has an you play R and and the steals need people playing R especially Gunners with no boyin this could be really helpful with Ryan wats um they talked about his below average foot speed he's a long Strider so he's got to match that to routes better um they talked about some of the looks that he gives and locating and throw that was a similar situation Cory tric profile if you remember questionable deep speed to say deeper than the deepest I kind of hate when people do draft profiles with those sorts of traits and then um it kind of means little bit of nothing um and could take time to recognize proper Pursuit angles that's all about coaching right you look at Ryan wats overall um pretty decent grades the thing that stood out to me putting aside with people hate PFF or not his tackling grade was above 75 for three of the years that he played in and last year was an 85 it was pretty cool to see that um he's also his Miss tackle numbers are very small an average of 99.3% that is a very low number for a lot of quarterbacks and I'll contextualize that in a moment but 2.5% missed tackles last year 2.5% that is incredible he made 30 tackles um you see a lot higher than that for defensive backs he did allow um he has allowed a 65.9% completion rate Ryan Watts on all receptions throwing his way allowing 60 receptions of 91 targets um he's allowed 811 yards in total in his college career um it's an average of 13.5 but obviously when you're played in a deeper Corner that can come into the mix um they talk about him having five pbus and only three interceptions but I go go off Sports reference I trust pro football reference to Stats more and he again has pretty much played a lot more Corner designation in terms of his snap count alignment but he's played a lot more box than Cory Tri which will end you to believe that's where the Steelers could be looking at him I believe Ryan wats I will say this before we get into the next couple of points before we close out the show I believe Ryan wats will be a safety in the NFL I believe he'll be predominantly used though consider him a tight end Defender and that is why I like the pick because I talked all draft process about guys like Kon alapo I talked about um a guy like a Jaden Hicks to mark up as a strong safety I talked about there was actually a number of safeties that we went through I talked about James Williams I wanted the Stealers to get someone outside of Des Shawn OT mink Fitzpatrick that could mark up on a big tight end in the in the NFL um particularly a big tight end in the AFC North and the AFC with guys like Mark Andrews and Isaiah likeley with the Ravens the Bengals just picked two tight ends as well the Browns having joku um you also look at Dawson Knox and dson King Kade over at the Buffalo Bills like I can go on but there are a lot of good tight ends you look at Michael Mayer um now and Brock Bowers at the Raiders like you are going to have to to win in the AFC and particularly AFC you've got to be able to stop tit end and the Steelers worst part of my language at that last year they were terrible K was injured a lot and they struggled there big time it was atrocious it needed needs to be fixed it was been it's been really bad since Terrell Edmonds left the Steelers which is why he should still be considered a possible free agent trade a free agent Target for the Steelers but anyway Ryan Watts has got the body body type the ability the hard tackling to become a safety cornerback hybrid or very much a box player um at the edge of that box into that intermediate passing game and a tight end Defender but I'd wanted to give you something a really cool thing I looked up with that 2 and a half% if you look at all draft eligible Corners last year in college football they played 20% of the total snaps because other that the most quarterback played because if you really look at any less than that then we're looking at a small sample size Ryan Watts had over 400 um he had yes so he had over 422 snaps that he played right that's that's quite a bit compared to the other guys at the top of this list right you look at the other guys at the top of this list um in terms of Miss tackle miles battle had 454 snaps verto Edwards had 489 there's some guys in there with less with 300 Thomas Harper had 438 any my point being um is that nrra had 465 right he went 51st um he know he went 50 Maybe 50 or 5 um first overall I can't remember which one it was um to Detroit right as they and because they upgraded their Corner line however this tackle rate right and even guys like beanie Bishop 99.6% now beanie Bishop played a lot more snaps than that but you look at let's go back to where I had Andis rraw um Junior there uh he had let's look at it 88.3% missed tackles he had about 30 40 snaps more than um than Ryan Watts Ryan watts two and a half% miss tackle so I said that earlier but this is in context he is a sure tackler when he hits you you're on the you're on the ground really interesting guy um from that perspective I wanted to just bring up two other things that I thought were kind of interesting I went and looked at ra scores because obviously when you're drafting a guy that late he's going to be a depth piece but when you're drafting a guy that's known for his physical attributes and measurables that's what that's what Ryan Watts has got in his favorite because it's not the production side then you kind of go well how does that compare athletically because I told you about he was the 11th best quarterback just like um just like Cur TR was and then I found something really interesting when you look at the 2023 NFL draft class the fifth sixth and seventh most athletic Corners based on their relative Athletic score or their R if you've seen it on social media or Cory Tri J dyus rush and Joey Porter Jr three guys that were prior to the draft all on the Steelers roster pretty crazy when you think about that and Mike tomin talks about the avatars in D in bringing them in tells you the way they want to play it tells you the way they want the secondary to be big fast rangy and athletic that's what they want the Steelers are in on this and then you go and look so dyus Rush 9.73 Joe Porter Jr 9.63 Cory TR 9.78 and then you go and look at Ryan watts and Ryan Watts has a 9.64 he's let down a little bit in the 40 yard dash compared to the other guys that we talked about with Porter Jr dyus Rush Cory T which lets down his 20 20 yard and 10 yard split but everything else is Elite or great when you look at the raas score so pretty incredible when you think about the athlete that they've brought into the mix um with bigger weight bigger size big bigger winning span bigger hands than Cory TR Jr so that brings me back to my overall starting point will Cory Tri be replaced by Ryan WS I don't think so I don't think so because they're going to be used differently however if it came down between the two guys we haven't seen anything from Cory trust so I do think Ryan watz has the leg up there but I think the Steelers I think actually dyus Rush could be the only one out because the Steelers do like developing their draft picks Cory Tri looked very good in training camp last year as well but the Steelers right now besides Joe Porto who's almost 6'2 and you know um a really good weight L late um 190s early 200s and a very athletic guy have Trice rush and now wats and all three of those guys if you look at the two draft classes of quarterback combined as some of the four four of the most athletic guys in both draft classes so steel fans look out because we are getting some really athletic guys it's just now about coaching them up Terrell Austin the DC is a defensive backs and secondary specialist according to his regime Mike Tomlin look at what he's known for and then you look at the coaching stuff they already have back there in um in uh great um you know Garrett Brown gr Brown he can coach he's been the why they pick to lead the corner the defensive backs at the Senior Bowl Etc so it's going to be incredible to watch these guys in Camp and it's going to be a really interesting battle you let me know in the comments are you are you in on Ryan watts are you against Ryan Watts there a lot of people that ranti it when he's first picked or you just want to wait and see and just trust the Steals and Trust the process you let me know as always ghost dealers